FHW Staff – New Delhi
Tejinder Singh Walia has been elected as the president of Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) for 2014-15 at the 58th Annual General Meeting of FHRAI in New Delhi recently. Walia is an entrepreneur with business interests spanning hospitality, retail and merchandise exports. He is the chairman of Hotel Walson, (a unit of Walson), a boutique hotel in Kolkata. He had served on the Joint Export Promotion Committee set up by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in partnership with the ministry of commerce and industry, Government of India and Directorate of Industries, Government of West Bengal.
After being elected as the FHRAI president, Walia said, “I am truly overwhelmed by the trust and confidence which my colleagues on the Executive Committee have reposed in me. I accept this distinct honour of assuming the presidency of FHRAI for 2014-15, with both gratitude as well as a profound sense of responsibility. 2015 is destined to be a landmark year, in which FHRAI will complete 60 years of service to the Indian hospitality industry and we will also celebrate the golden jubilee of our annual convention.” Outlining his plans for the year ahead, he said, “The coming year is especially crucial, because many of the key policy and regulatory issues, which FHRAI has been diligently pursuing for long, are currently poised at an important juncture, for instance, introduction of the Goods & Services Tax (GST), e-Visa for international tourists, infrastructure status for the hospitality industry, single-window clearance for projects, streamlining of the hotel classification norms, etc. We have to be persistent and proactive in our engagement with the government, to ensure that these initiatives come to timely fruition.”
At the first meeting of the new FHRAI Executive Committee, the following office-bearers for the year 2014-15, were also elected – Vivek Nair, CMD, Hotel Leelaventure as honorary secretary; Luv Malhotra, JMD, The Suryaa, CHL as vice-president; Bharat Malkani, MD, Hotel Transit as vice-president; K Syama Raju, MD, Hotel Maurya as vice-president; Sudesh Poddar, MD, Satya Hotels and Natraj Hotel & Resorts as honorary treasurer; Garish Oberoi, partner, Hotel Uberoi Anand as joint honorary secretary; and K Murali Rao, MD, New Woodlands Hotels as joint honorary secretary.