The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms, is all set to debut its mid-market and limited-service hotel brands ‘Holiday Inn Express’ and Holiday Inn Suites in India.

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The chain has signed a series of management contracts with the New Delhi-based developer, Amrapali Group for six hotels.

While four projects will sport the Holiday Inn Express brand, one hotel each will be operated under the Holiday Inn Suites and Holiday Inn brands.

According to Jan Smits, managing director, IHG Asia Australasia, factors like strong economic growth, an expanding middle class, will drive demand for the mid-market and limited service segments exponentially.

“Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express will address the need for branded, high-quality and value-based hotels in these segments. These six hotels add momentum to our India pipeline, which now stands at 45 hotels. Close to 70% of this pipeline is with the Holiday Inn brand,” Smits said.

With the signing up of six new properties with Amrapali, IHG will add approximately 1,000 guestrooms to its Indian portfolio. The realtor is already developing a Crowne Plaza hotel in Udaipur which is scheduled for completion by the end of 2014.

The six new hotels by Amrapali Group group are being developed in Noida (two hotels - 200 + 150 rooms), Indore (150 rooms), Jaipur (200 rooms), Kochi (150 rooms) and Patna (150 rooms). The hotels are scheduled to open between 2013 and 2015.

Positioned in the mid-market and limited service segments rooms at Holiday Inn Express will be priced between Rs3,000 to Rs3,500.

Featuring large size rooms with kitchennete the price range for Holiday Inn Suites haven’t been made public as yet.

Anil Kumar Sharma, chairman and managing director of Amrapali Group said, “We will be investing approximately Rs1,000 crore towards the six new projects. Funding the developments will be largely done through internal accruals with a small part of it coming from external sources including debt.”

IHG’s current portfolio in India comprises 12 hotels in key Indian cities. The hotel company is looking to triple its presence in the country by 2015. Upcoming IHG hotels are expected to be located in India’s major metros and key secondary cities including New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Kolkata, and Pune among others.