The Ashok hotel completes 70 years
Delhi’s iconic The Ashok hotel, a veritable landmark and a preferred luxury address in the Government-run hospitality segment, has completed 70 years.
A grand double-anniversary celebration was hosted at The Ashok at Chanakyapuri on Friday night to mark the occasion and the diamond jubilee of the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), which runs the hotel.
Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat attended the ceremony, which also saw participation from many captains of the domestic hospitality industry, travel and tour operators, among others.
Shekhawat inaugurated a series of high-impact initiatives at the event to mark the joint celebration.
In his address, the minister described the ITDC as a “multi-dimensional growth engine for India’s tourism-and-hospitality ecosystem” and underscored the organisation’s reimagination strategy for the “digital and metaverse age”, aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Commissioned in 1956, The Ashok, New Delhi, the ITDC’s flagship property and India’s “only PSU-managed five-star luxury hotel”, marks 70 years of distinguished service to the country, the tourism ministry said.
Set up in 1966, the ITDC is a Schedule ‘B’ Mini-Ratna CPSE (Central Public Sector Enterprise) under the tourism ministry.
“Over six decades, it has played a pioneering role in shaping India’s tourism infrastructure, hospitality standards, and international outreach. As the ITDC celebrates its 60 years, it continues to strengthen market leadership through modernisation, institutional reforms and technology-enabled transformation,” the ministry said in a statement. The celebration witnessed the launch of a comprehensive bouquet of physical, digital, intellectual and institutional initiatives aimed at catalysing growth across the tourism-and-hospitality sector.
These initiatives reflect the emphasis laid in the Union Budget 2026-27 on emerging technologies, including generative AI, immersive experiences and smart digital infrastructure for commercial excellence, the statement said.
