1

DRAFT REPORT FOR AN UPCOMING BOUTIQUE RESORT – TATHASTU

AT VAISHALI IN THE STATE OF BIHAR

BY TATHAGAAT HOSPITALITY AND TRAVEL SOLUTIONS

Viability study for a 50 room boutique resort at village Vaishali in Bihar

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INDEX

CONTENTS PAGE NUMBER

1.0 Introduction to Tathagaat Hospitality 03

2.0 Introduction to Vaishali 04

3.0 Tourist scenario 07

4.0 Tourism statistics 11

5.0 Tourism industry analysis 15

6.0 Real estate review of Vaishali 21

7.0 Industrial Policy 22

8.0 Subject site analysis 22

9.0 Marketing strategy 24

10.0 Swot analysis 25

11.0 Project Details 26

12.0 Project Cost 32

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1.0 INTRODUCTION TO TATHAGAAT HOSPITALITY & TRAVEL

SOLUTIONS

Tathagaat Hospitality & Travel Solutions will bring a one stop solution for very high
quality travel products. The company will consolidate the best and most unique resorts
with its own back end travel operations. The mandate of its own travel operation is to
ensure the highest quality of service possible in India and to guarantee its clients with a
life time experience. For this the company is going to use a network of a few select
companies who can provide small charter aircrafts to run these high cost tours.

The company will position itself in the niche segment where the clients are time
restrained and, are, more product conscious than price.

In order to achieve its goal the company has decided to start off with a sector that will
see quantum growth in coming years – Buddhist Pilgrimage. Since Bihar is the birth
place for Buddhism and Jainism and let us say to some extent Sikhism, it is bound to
attract more and more tourists seeking to experience the land where such phenomenon
began. Pilgrimage is the only tourism that gets least affected by global turmoil. Thus
the company is going to begin its journey by establishing its own 50 villa boutique resort
at Vaishali in Bihar.

Once this resort is operational – the company will simultaneously look for existing
properties in other Buddhist destinations of Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Kushinagar, Sravasti and
Lumbini that can be restructured / renovated to meet our standards and will run it
under a management contract with the respective resorts. This will establish a complete
circuit for high end Buddhist Pilgrimage.

From here on the company will venture into other lesser know destinations to establish
its boutique resorts for a out of the box experience for tourists craving for something
new and exciting.

The company will also set new standards in terms of eco tourism and will deliver this
with near perfection. The company envisages employing a large number of people and
being a part of conservation of nature, art, culture and the heritage.
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2.0 INTRODUCTION TO VAISHALI

Historically important, Vaishali, on the left bank of the Gandak river, is spiritually supreme.
Lord Buddha visited this place frequently and at Kolhua, close by, preached his last sermon. To
commemorate the event, Emperor Ashoka, in the third century B.C. erected one of his famous
lion pillars here. A hundred years after the Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha - Vaishali hosted the
second great Buddhist council. Two stupas were erected to commemorate this event.

Jainism, too, has its origins in Vaishali, for in 527 B.C., Lord Mahavir was born on the outskirts of
the city, and lived in Vaishali till he was 22.

Vaishali is twice blessed and remains an important pilgrim center for both Buddhists and Jains.
It is one of the most interesting place in terms of historical and religious past.
Today Vaishali is a small town and is surrounded by mango and banana groves.

****Vaishali district is encircled in RED below.

Source : mapsofindia.com + wikimaps

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2.1 LOCATION

Vaishali is situated in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, around 55 km off Patna, the capital of
the state. Vaishali extends from latitude 25° to 30° North to longitude 84° to 85° East.
Vaishali district is a part of Tirhut division and Hajipur town is the district headquarters. The
district of Vaishali came in to existence on 12/10/1972. Earlier it was the part of old
Muzzafarpur district. The district covers an area of around 2036 km².

Altitude : 53 m

CITY DISTANCE
Patna 55 Km
Madhubani 100 Km
Rajgir 170 Km
Bodhgaya 240 Km
Kesaria 40 Km
Hajipur 35 Km
Source : National Informatics Centre, Bihar

2.2 CLIMATE

Tropical climate with temperatures dipping to 4 degree Celsius in winters and going up to 43
degree Celsius in summers. The annual rainfall varies between 100 – 125cm every year and
most of it happening during the Months of July, August and September.

2.3 CONNECTIVITY

By Air : Loknayak Jai Prakash International Airport, Patna, situated 55 km away in Patna. There
are regular flights from Patna to other major cities of India like Delhi, Kolkata, Kathmandu,
Varanasi and Lucknow. You can hire taxis for further movement or board buses from Patna.

By rail : Most of the north India is well connected with railway network and Vaishali is no
exception. The nearest railhead is Hajipur, situated 35 km, which is well connected to the major
cities of India.

Patna the capital of Bihar, is just 55 kilometers away from Vaishali and is well connected with all
the metro cities of India and there are regular and direct trains from Patna to the cities of
Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.

By road: Well paved and roads from Patna, the capital city (55kms / 1 and a quarter hour drive)
and adjoining city of Hajipur (35km/ 50 minutes of drive)
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Source : Goole maps

2.4 ACCOMMODATION

Vaishali do not offer very good stay options, so majority of tourists stay in Patna.
Accommodations are available in the Tourist Bunglows and Tourist Youth Hostels of Bihar State
Tourism Development Corporation.

Two hotels are coming up in Vaishali. One is a 60 room hotel with 3 banquet halls and the
construction began on 26th November 2009. Due for completion by the end of next year.
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2.5 CITY / DISTRICT STATISTICS

HEADQUARTERS HAJIPUR

AREA 2036 sq km

Total Population 2718421

Urban Population 186655

Rural Population 2531766

Subdivisions Hajipur, Mahnar, Mahua

Literacy rate 51.63%

Sex ratio 921/1000

AGRICULTURE Banana, Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Lentils and

Leechi

RIVERS GANDAK, KADANE, BAYA, DUMARI WALI

NADI

Source : National Informatics Centre, Bihar

2.6 ECONOMY

The economy of the entire area is mostly agrarian. Agriculture is the main activity and banana,
paddy, wheat, maize , tobacco and lentils are the major crops.

3.0 TOURIST SCENARIO

Vaishali is the only city that is connected with two major faiths in this world. Lord Buddha
preached his last sermon in here and Lord Mahavir Jain was born here.

Historically important, Vaishali, on the left bank of the Gandak river, is spiritually supreme. Lord
Buddha visited this place frequently and at Kolhua, close by, preached his last sermon. To
commemorate the event, Emperor Ashoka, in the third century B.C. erected one of his famous
lion pillars here. A hundred years after the Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha - Vaishali hosted the
second great Buddhist council. Two stupas were erected to commemorate this event. Jainism,
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too, has its origins in Vaishali, for in 527 B.C., Lord Mahavir was born on the outskirts of the city,
and lived in Vaishali till he was 22. Vaishali is then twice blessed and remains an important
pilgrim center for both Buddhists and Jains, attracting also historians foraging for the past.

This destination is bound to see a growth of foreign tourists from countries like Japan, Korea,
China, Tawian, Srilanka and the rest where Buddhism is a large religion. In the past one decade
the number of visitors from Buddhist countries have increased many folds. As per the report
published in Indian express on Jun 27, 2009 (http://www.expressindia.com/latest-
news/Foreign-tourists-inflow-jumps-four-times-in-Bihar/482096/) Patna ; with the Bihar
government giving a fresh thrust to the tourism sector through enhanced budgetary allocation,
the footfall of foreign tourists in the state has gone up by nearly four times in two years.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Bihar has shot up to over three lakhs in 2008, state's
Tourism minister Rampravesh Rai told reporters on Friday.

In 2007, the state witnessed an 87.79 per cent rise in tourist inflow as compared to the
previous year and last year the rise was 100.97 per cent, he said.

Realising vast potential of Bihar, home to a number of Buddhist, Jain and Sikh shrines for pilgrim
tourism, the government substantially increased budgetary allocations to the sector.

To facilitate stay in Vaishali, Various organizations and nations have built their own religious
guest houses for people who cannot afford to spend on rooms. This is free for citizens of the
countries. Currently there are Viharas( Hostels) from Srilanka, Vietnam and Burma.
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BUDDHIST CIRCUIT MAP OF BIHAR

Source : National Informatics Centre, Bihar

3.1 FEW MORE FACTS ABOUT VAISHALI :

Tourist Attractions: Ashokan Pillar, Bawan Pokhar Temple, Buddha Stupa-I, Buddha Stupa-II,
Raja Vishal ka Garh, Shanti Stupa, Kundupur, Coronation Tank.

Festivals: The Vaishali Mahotsav in April celebrates the birth anniversary of Lord
Mahavira.

Nearest Tourist Destinations: Patna, Rajgir, Bodhgaya, Madhubani.

Best time to visit: October to March.

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3.2 MAJOR TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Ashokan Pillar, The Lion Pillar at Kolhua, was built by Emperor Ashoka.
Made of single piece of red sandstone, the pillar is capped by a 18 m
high bell shaped capital. On the top is kept a life-size figure of lion.

Bawan Pokhar Temple : A Hindu temple, Bawan Pokhar temple

is situated on the banks of a lake called Bawan Pokhar. The old temple,
built during Pala period, enshrines beautiful images of Hindu Gods and
Goddesses.

Buddha Stupa 1 and 2 : The Buddha Stupas were created in the name
of the second Buddhist council. The outer stupa has a stone box, which
has one-eighth of lord Buddha's ashes. The inner stupa was excavation
in 1958 and it also held a stone box containing some part the ashes of
the Lord Buddha.

Raja Vishal ka Garh : The fort of King Vishal is in ruins today. A huge
platform here, which has a circumference of about one Kilometre and
walls nearly 2m high with a 43m wide moat, is said to be the parliament
house of King Vishal. More than seven thousands representatives could
stand here to discuss the issues.

Coronation Tank An excavated site : This place is believed as an ancient

parliament house of the Lichchavi government. The water of the tank
was used to anoint the selected representatives. It is located near the
Raja Vishal ka Garh.

3.3 FAIRS & FESTIVALS

Vaishali Mahotsava

Vaishali Mahotsava is an important festival of Vaishali which is held to celebrate the

birth anniversary of Lord Mahavir. It is celebrated on the full moon day of Hindu month
'Vaisakh', usually falls in mid- April.
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Sonepur Fair

Just 35 kms away Sonpur is situated on the confluence of the river Ganga and Gandak.
The town is host to one of Asia's biggest cattle fair which starts from full moon day of
Hindu month 'Kartik' (October - November). Millions of visitors come to this fair which
lasts for almost a fortnight. During the Sonepur Fair, Bihar State Tourism Development
Corporation offers Swiss Cottages with attached baths in the temporarily erected
Tourists Village.

4.0 TOURISM STATISTICS

Given under a few comparative/informative graphs depicting the rise of tourism in Bihar
and Vaishali in specific.

a.) The chart below depicts the arrival of Foreign Tourist in Varanasi. Only those nationalities
have been taken who are mainly Buddhist nations. Most of these tourists would start their
journey from Sarnath, near Varanasi, and then connect with Bihar by surface. The chart
shows a steady increase from 2004 till 2008.

Source : U P Tourism
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b.) Coming over to the state of Bihar - the chart below depicts a growth of 377% in Foreign
tourist arrivals from 2006 till December 2008. This a clear indication that the state of Bihar
has overcome its image of being a poor state in terms of infrastructure and security of
travellers. There seem to be no decline in the trend as the figure of Foreign toursits have
already touched 1.14 Lakh from January 2009 till April 2009 (not shown in the chart)

Source : Department of Tourism, Bihar; Govt. of Bihar

c.) The domestic tourism too have shown a steady growth from 2006 till early 2009.

Source : Department of Tourism, Bihar; Govt. of Bihar

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d.) Moving on to our detination – VAISHALI. The chart below shows the arrival of
foreign tourists in Vaishali in the years 2006,07,08. It shows a steady rise in thenumber of
arrivals.

Source : Department of Tourism, Bihar; Govt. of Bihar

Domestic tourist arrivals in Vaishali from Jan – Dec in 2006, 2007 and 2008
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Source : Department of Tourism, Bihar; Govt. of Bihar

Foreign Tourist arrivals in Vaishali from Jan – Dec in 2006, 2007 and 2008

Source : Department of Tourism, Bihar; Govt. of Bihar

Since there is no hotel that can be used by domestic / foreign tourists in Vaishali, most of the tourists
stay in the Various Viharas, namely Srilanka Vihar, Vietnaam Vihar, Burma Vihar.

Its important to see that in the last four years, there is a major increase in the inflow of tourists, both
domestic and foreign into Bihar.

More importantly, we also note that the trend is dear to Vaishali also. Vaishali has the potential to host
these pilgrims who arrive to witness their faiths – Buddhism and Jainism. Since Vaishali is close to Patna,
majority of tourists visiting Vaishali would stay overnight in Patna and make a day visit to Vaishali. But
the trend is changing as the foreign tourists are choosing to go directly to Vaishali and proceed on the
onward journey that is, most of the time a back breaking journey by road.

Given below are comparative charts that show the difference in Foreign tourist arrivals between Patna
and Vaishali. (Keep in mind that the nearest place where the tourists can stay is Patna)
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Source : Department of Tourism, Bihar; Govt. of Bihar

So we can conclude that if there are a few good hotels in Vaishali, The tourists would prefer spending
the night in Vaishali, after a tiring journey from other tourist destinations by road.

5.0 TOURISM INDUSTRY ANALYSIS FOR VAISHALI

At present there is no hotel in Vaishali. Though there is one hotel – but it is in ruins and
can only accommodate people who just need a room with no facilities or cleanliness. To
facilitate stay for budget restrained citizens from various Buddhist countries - there are
the National guest houses (Viharas ) by Vietnaam, Srilanka and Burma governments.
These are very basic accommodation and lack the essentials of any good hotel. Hence
pose no competition or threat to our project.
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5.1 UPCOMING HOTELS IN VAISHALI

A 47 room hotel, Vaishali Residency is under construction by Vaishali Hospitality Pvt Ltd.
This is located about 30 meters from the Coronation Tank and right next to Vietnaam
State Vihara. The USP of this hotel is to cater to low and medium budget tourists those
flock the destinations like Bodhgaya and Rajgir. Apart from this they will target
marriages, conferences and other local fests.

Another 40 room hotel with budget tourists in mind will commence construction in
January 2010. The foundation and basement is ready. This would again pose no threat.

5.2 TATHASTU’S POSITION IN VAISHALI OVER HOTELS IN PATNA

Our resort will be supplementing the stay of tourists in Patna who are on Buddhist and
Jain pilgrimage. There are only two hotels in Patna that can be considered for analysis
for tourists looking for better hotels and facilities. These are

Hotel Maurya – 70 rooms, only 4 star+ hotel.

Hotel Chanakya – 100 rooms, 4 star hotel.

Hotel Maurya : The hotel property is located on a two and a half acre plot in the prime
commercial area of Patna (Gandhi Maidan). Its prime location gives the
hotel a definitive competitive advantage over any other existing or new
hotel since land is very scarce and expensive in central Patna.

It has 70 rooms and are divided into 7 category of rooms.

The room rate start from Rs. 5500 per night and go up to Rs. 22500 per
night.

The average occupancy for the hotel is around 47%

The ARR commanded is about Rs. 5500 per night.

Hotel Chanakya : The hotel is big with 100 operational rooms. Situated 6 kms from the
airport, Chanakya Hotel is a centrally located budget hotel. This popular
leisure and business hotel is situated just 1 km from the railway station
and 2 kms from the bus stand.

It caters mainly the mid budget tourists and banqueting events.

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The average occupancy is around 55%

The ARR commanded is around Rs. 3800.

A fair portion of the revenue comes from Banqueting and F&B sales as
there is no other such hotel in the state.

The occupancy and ARR for the two properties in Patna is given below :

Both the hotels cater to a variety of tourists and the only hotel that comes closer to our product range is The
Maurya.

Hence the only competition that we have is Hotel Maurya and our resort will gain advantage due to its
location, concept and quality.
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5.3 ARRIVAL STATISTICS AND INFERENCE

Given below is arrival trends of last 4 years in Patna. On the basis of research, apx 98% of foreign
tourists staying in Patna have visited Vaishali either on way in or on way out.

A much lesser percent of 18% domestic tourists have visited Vaishali.

As per the reports in TOURISM STATISTICS, the arrival of foreign tourists directly in Vaishali has
increased over the arrivals in Patna for the purpose of including Vaishali in the itinerary. Read the
charts given below :

Source : Department of Tourism, Bihar; Govt. of Bihar

5.4 CHANGE IN ITINERARIES AFTER THE RESORT COMES IN OPERATION :

Given below is the chart of two most frequented itineraries in the Buddhist Circuit in
Bihar. These programs are standard offers for group tours from Japan, Korea, Singapore,
Taiwan, Srinalka, Burma and various other countries.
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Once the resort is operational in Vaishali – The tour operators will get the advantage of
breaking the journeys at Vaishali in order to give more time to the tourists to explore
Vaishali. Most of the times the tourists miss the Tallest stupa in the wolrd – Kesaria –
that is soon to be declared a UNESCO world heritage site. By the presence of this resort
in Vaishali – the tourists will not have to take the grilling 9 – 10 hours in their buses to
travel from Bodhgaya/Rajgir to Kushinagar or vice versa.

For the groups flying in OR out of Patna, Vaishali still is a better option because it will be
more peaceful, more scenic and in the heart of historical and religious sites. The airport
would be a 70 minutes drive from the resort and thus the tourists can visit the Patna
Museum and carry on to Vaishali.

OLD ITINERARY – 1 NEW ITINERARY - 1

Day 01 Bangkok – Delhi Bangkok - Delhi
Day 02 Delhi - Lucknow – Sravasti Delhi - Lucknow - Sravasti
Day 03 Sravasti – Lumbini Sravasti - Lumbini
Day 04 Lumbini – Kushinagar Lumbini - Kushinagar

Long day on road that leaves no

Kushinagar - Vaishali - Rajgir :
Driving time is over 9 hours and the
Day 05
day becomes long, especially in
winters
Kushinagar - Vaishali 210 kms The day
time for exploring the sites in and
gets shortened by over 3.5 hours. The
around Vaishali. Tourists miss the
next day the clients can explore Vaishali
World heritage site of tallest
at ease.
stupa at Kesaria

Vaishali - Rajgir Via Kesaria (180kms) -

The clients can explore Kesaria and
Day 06 Rajgir – Bodhgaya
come back for lunch at Vaishali. and
then push off to Rajgir after lunch

Day 07 Bodhgaya Rajgir - Bodhgaya

Day 08 Bodhgaya – Varanasi Bodhgaya - Varanasi
Day 09 Varanasi – Bankok Varanasi - Bankok

OLD ITINERARY – 2 NEW ITINERARY - 2

Day 01 Arrive Delhi Arrive Delhi
Day 02 Delhi Delhi
Day 03 Delhi - Agra – Varanasi Delhi - Agra - Varanasi
Day 04 Varanasi Varanasi
Day 05 Varanasi - Sarnath - Varanasi Varanasi - Sarnath - Varanasi
Day 06 Varanasi – Bodhgaya Varanasi - Bodhgaya
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Badhgaya - Rajgir - Nalanda - Patna -

Vaishali - The clients can consider doing
Day 07 Bodhgaya- Rajgir - Nalnda - Patna
another hour and a half after visiting
the Patna Museum to Vaishali.

Patna to Vaishali is 60km and then Vaishali - Kushinagar : In the morning

to Kushinagar is another 223 km the clients can explore Vaishali and
Day 08 Patna - Vaishali - Kushinagar
and thus the driving time is Kesaria. After lunch drive to Kushinagar
around 9-10 hours to reach by nightfall.

Day 09 Kushinagar Kushinagar

Day 10 Kushinagar - Kapilvastu – Lumbini Kushinagar - Kapilvastu - Lumbini
Day 11 Lumbini – Sravasti Lumbini - Sravasti
Day 12 Sravasti - Lucjnow – Delhi Sravasti - Lucjnow - Delhi
Day 13 Sravasti - Lucjnow – Delhi Sravasti - Lucjnow - Delhi
Day 14 Delhi – out Delhi - out

5.5 PREFERENCE OF TOURISTS OF VAISHALI OVER PATNA :

The tourists and the travel agents will prefer to put their clients at Vaishli over Patna for
the following reasons :

1) Vaishali is dear to Buddhist and Jains.

2) Vaishali is more peaceful, cleaner and better climate as compared to Patna which
gets very hot due to concrete constructions and high population

3) The driving time gets reduced by by 2hours while transiting from Kushinagar to
Gaya/Rajgir.

4) By the avilablity of accommodation in Vaishali – the tourists can visit Kesaria

(proposed UNESCO heritage site) at ease and explore this quaint village with various
historical and religious site without rushing to board their buses / cabs to reach the
next destination.

5.6 LOCAL TOURISM FROM PATNA (WEEK END + CONFERENCES)

Another big market that will emerge from the city of Patna would be week end visits by
people of Patna who have not yet experienced anything like the concept at Thathastu.
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There is large population of high income group residents in Patna. With the political
situation getting better and better, the people are opening up in terms of engaging their
disposal income.

Another big market will be for high end conferences by companies who prefer to merge
business with a quality vacation for their top executives. Being close to Patna, they will
not mind paying a ‘comparitively’ high price for our resort, as the cost for air travel to
any destination like GOA, KERALA, JAIPUR, AGRA or for that matter even DELHI would
compensate for our high prices. It will be time saving too.

Bihar as a state is opening up for FDI and investments from Indians in various sectors. As
soon as this gains momentum, there will be an ever increasing demand for better
resorts and hotels.

5.7 LOCAL MARRIAGES

One more market that will emerge will be the rich Buddhists marrying off their children.
Vaishali by the virtue of its history and the boutique resort Tathastu, will be the ultimate
destination to solemnize such ceremony. Since the resort will be unique, very Buddhsit
and in tune with the religious heritage – it will attract such ceremonies.

5.8 BUDDHIST EX-PAT MARRIAGES

There is a large population of Buddhist Ex-pats staying in India. Global partnerships in

automobile, telecom and other sectors have induced a growth in this numbers. Tathastu
in Vaishali - by the virtue of direct connectivity from all major metropolitan cities via
PATNA can be promoted as the ONLY BUDDHIST BOUTIQUE RESORT for marriages and
other family functions. Our research tells that there is a demand for such resorts in
religious destinations.

6.0 REAL ESTATE REVIEW OF VAISHALI DISTRICT

The real estate scenario is in an infant stage, owing to no commercial hub in the vicinity
of the proposed site. Most of the land is agricultural and is governed by a system of
Panchayat.
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The entire region is fragmented into small pieces of land and there is no fixed rate in the
area. Land accusation happens in stages after one succeeds in gathering a big piece of
land from various owners. The current prices as per a survey in October 2009, varied
between Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 1,20,000 for each khatta (1760sq feet) of land.

7.0 INDUSTRIAL POLICY

The existing Industrial Policy of the Bihar was framed against the back drop of potential
and expectations of the newly formed government under the leadership of The
Honorable Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar.

The approval of the much awaited Tourism Policy of the Bihar government is an
invitation for people looking to contribute towards tourism development in the state.
Special packages and incentives will be given to promote tourism development in the
state of Bihar. Under the package announced formally on 15th July 2009, new
prospective investors in the tourism sectors would get rebates in land registration
charges, electricity consumption and luxury tax for seven years apart from other
benefits.

8.0 SUBJECT SITE ANALYSIS

The land appropriated for the project is situated about 65 meters from the Ashoks Pillar
and in the middle of an agricultural area. The area is apx 3 acres.

The land has good frontage and is about 30 feet inside from the main road.

Its about 1 km from National Highway 102 connecting Chapra to Muzaffarpur. It is

about 3.5 kms from the Buddhas Relic Stupa and about 700 meters from The Ashoka’s
Pillar.

The site is about 4.5 Kms from the Site of the Jain temple that is coming up at the birth
place of Lord Mahavir Jain.

We have decided to keep it a little away because of the theme of the resort. The area
that is most sought after, is the road leading to the coronation tank and Buddha Relic
Stupa. On this 450 meter raod we have 4 hotel projects happening. There are 3 National
State Viharas.

As per our survey, this is the area where there will be a lot of chaos and local markets
springing up to cater to basic needs like eateries and small restaurants.
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By keeping it a little away we can engage our team of eco Rickshaws to take the tourists
around the villages and various sites of interest. There are beautiful village roads that
can be used to travel between various sites.

Another big advantage of this land is its price. Since its away from the happening area in
Vaishali, the prices are modest as compared to the land around the coronation tank.
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Source : Google Earth Maps, google Inc.

9.0 MARKETING STRATEGY

Logic behind the Project

It is envisaged that the resort will attract pilgrims coming to Bihar to visiti centres
associated with Buddha and the birthplace of Lord Mahavir, the founder of Jainism. For
years thousands of tourists have visited the Buddhist circuits in Bihar. Bodhgaya has got
maximum infrastructure to accommodate tourists and hence it has become the centre
of pilgrimage for Buddhists.

However, looking at the historical past and its religious value Vaishali is no less that
Bodhgaya, having the added advantage of being a pilgrimage centre for the Jains. Due to
various reasons the place is neglected and remains a faraway day visit from Patna
despite the fact that it has all that it takes to make it one of the most important
destinations for both Buddhist and Jain pilgrims.
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Research show that tourists are willing to spend time at the religious sites in Vaishali.
They wish to do morning prayers and evening prayers and experience the sunrise and
sunset. They also desire to experience day-to-day life of the local people. However, due
to the lack of a good hotel, they have no choice but to return to Patna or continue
onwards to other destinations.

We are convinced that once there is a hotel that provides world class services and an
ambience that resonates with the religious and historical grandeur, there is bound to be
a huge inflow of Buddhist and Jains that have come to Bihar on a pilgrimage and end up
spending nights in Patna.

From October till April pilgrims come from Japan, South Korea, Spain, China, Singapore
and other South Asian countries. etc. Along with Jain pilgrims and other tourists these
visitors will be our prime focus. With our abilities to market lesser known destinations it
will not be difficult to generate adequate traffic to this destination. We also plan to
attract a big chunk of the group tourism from countries like Japan and South Korea and
China.

10.0 SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

• Located in a village that is of prime importance to the Buddhist and Jain Pilgrimage

• Very close to National Highway number 102

• Peaceful environs for the meditation centre

Weaknesses

• This would be the only hotel away from the link road where all other projects are
coming up.

• At present there is no social, physical infrastructure present in the close proximity of the
site.

Opportunities

• Advantage of being one of the first hotels to get commissioned in Vaishali.

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• Other hotels are coming up, but with a very general approach of gathering any sort of
business that may come around. So we can be trend setters for a unique resort
experience.

• Vaishali will be connected y railways in next one year. The work is under progress.

Threats

• Upcoming hotels can attempt to attract our market share based on PRICE only factor.

11.0 PROJECT DETAILS

10.1 Room configuration

The proposed resort will have three different kinds of villas. Below given is a breakup of villas
category wide

11.2 FACILITIES

• Individual villas for total privacy and peace

• Specialty restaurants – Japanese, Korean, Jain and Indian

• Meditation Hall
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• Directors conference Room

• Museum

• Business Center

• Exclusive Wedding event

• Ayurvedic Rejuvenation & Treatment centre.

11.3 SELF SUFFICIENCY

Since the state of Bihar still does not have a regular distribution of electricity, most of the places
get their supplies in phases. At the moment Vaishali has to go without electricity for over 6 – 7
hours each day. Though the government has committed to assist such ventures by dedicating
power supply to such units.

This challenge of running the vital machinery along with heating and cooling poses a challenge.

Though the hotel will install its own 500Kva generator along with its substation, The resort will
to optimize the resources from nature. In its plan the resort is going to have half the rooms
optimized for Summers with the rooms facing towards north and having deep verandas and
double roofs. There will be water channels all around to cool the breeze.

Apart from this there is a plan to install customized desert cooler to cool the public and
individual areas. These desert coolers will pre cool the air that goes into the air-conditioning
units. This will reduce the power consumption by the air-conditioning.

For heating the resort is planning to use state of art solar water heating solution that can be
utilized to heat the rooms as well as the public areas and simultaneously supplying hot water for
use. Peak energy consumption would happen only on bad weather days. Or else there will be a
balance of natural resources and power supply / generated.

BIO GAS : Since there are many villages around the site, the resort is going to extensively train
people to install bio gas plants. Experts will be engaged to design a highly efficient plant that can
feed the resort to run kitchen stoves, boilers, and a small steam turbine(probable) to generate
electricity.

11.4 ENERGY CONSERVATION

The resort will set new standards in terms of energy conservation and responsibility towards
environment. Every process, big or small, in the hotel will be energy efficient. Solar lanterns,
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intelligent lighting systems, architectural designs to optimize heating and cooling, energy
efficient kitchen equipment etc.

The staff will be trained and made aware about all these aspects.

There resort will practice recycling most of its own waste on site.

11.5 ALTERNATE SOURCE OF ENERGY

Since energy conservation is high on agenda – the resort aims to use a variety of technologies
and procedures to reduce its impact on environment. A lot of energy is consumed in heating and
cooling the public spaces and the rooms in any hotel. For this purpose the the resort will be
dsigned in such a way that at any given time – the only spaces that are being heated or cooled,
are the ones required. That is why the resort is envisaged like a caterpillar construction that
enables regulation of various processes in the resort. Even the restaurants will be such that the
areas can be insulated in various volumes to optimize heating/cooling.

The resort going to use, solar energy, solar heating, wind systems available to optimize the over
all ambience. We will also induce an extensive use of biogas in our system.

11.6 LOCAL EMPLOYMENT

The resort plans to train and employ people from various nearby villages and cities. A large
number of them will be trained at our in-house training facility and employed directly by the
resort. The resort desires to have over 60% local employees.

The resort will facilitate training by various organizations for organic farming. Initially we will
consume most of the produce for our clients, the surplus will be supplied directly to institutions,
business houses looking for organic produces. For this the resort will act like a one point
facilitator between the farmers and buyers. By eradicating middle chains, the farmers can
benefit directly. The resort does not desire to gain revenue out of this facilitation.

The resort also will employ a few people to run our custom designed high tech cycle rikshaws
to ferry people within the village to various sites. These people will be employed directly by the
resort.

The resort will train a few local people to act like guides for the historical and religious sites.
These people would be sponsored for learning few foreign languages. Once they are trained
they can be hired as guides by various other resorts in the area that may come up.

The resort will be decorated by art work and sculptures by artists from the state. All of these
will be on sale and the 70% of sale proceedings will go directly to the artist. 30% will be resort’s
revenue as a facilitator.
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11.7 ENVIRONMENTALY RESPONSIBLE

The resort will engage practices that work towards energy conservation and least pollution.

First and foremost plan is to initiate a forestation drive. For this the company will plant and
maintain a tree for a life time, for every guest who has stayed at this resort. For this purpose
the company will secure a large area of forest land from the government to plant these trees.
The plants will be looked after by people employed by the resort. Every tree planted, will bear
the name of the tourist on whose account it was planted.

A 2 monthly database with pictures of the health of each tree will be updated on the website of
our resort. This way the tourists will feel even more attached to this place for the entire of their
lives. This will also justify the high tariffs of our resort.

Installation of bio gas plants will reduce the dependence on diesel and electricity.

Cycle rickshaws will add on to our carbon credits. 100% pollution free transport for exploration
of Vaishali.

The resort will also have a fleet of cycles for the tourists to go around the village.

11.8 EXPANSION OF THE RESORT

Enough land will be acquired in order to increase the inventory as and when the demand would
grow. The strategic location of this resort will not permit any other resort to be close to us in at
least a mile. It is located away from the most of the upcoming project site.

11.9 EXPANSION OF THE COMPANY

Once this resort is operational – the company will simultaneously look for existing properties in
other Buddhist destinations of Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Kushinagar, Sravasti and Lumbini that can be
restructured / renovated to meet our standards and will run it under a management contract
with the respective resorts.

Thus the company will work towards its own boutique resorts in all Buddhist Destinations in
Bihar by 2014-15.

This will establish a complete circuit for high end Buddhist and Jain Pilgrimage.
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11.10 MARKET SHARE ASSUMPTION

Since Vaishali has no hotel till now, it will be difficult to forecast the comparative trends. But a
lot will depend on the positioning of the resort. Although there is a substantial market for hotels
in Vaishali – we are aiming at high end tourists, high monks, preachers and those people who
will not mind spending more for quality. Even without the required infrastructure the number of
foreign visitors crossed 16500 marks in 2008. Though this is a small percent of over 3.60 lakh
tourist who visited Bihar.

As per the trends of the tourists arrivals – a large percent of tourists visiting Bihar are pilgrims
and seek to travel to Buddhist destinations only.

A large fraction of the rich Jain tourists from all over the world would find it easy to come and
explore the birth place of their lord.

Technically speaking the analysis should be done with keeping Patna hotels on radar, as Patna is
the nearest place where the tourists stay overnight while visiting Vaishali on their Buddhist tour.

Patna too has only 2 hotels that may be considered to be at par in terms of tariffs – The Maurya
and Chanakya. Both the hotels have 70 and 100 rooms respectively.

11.11 AVERAGE ROOM RENT PROJECTIONS

The proposed hotels room rent has been decided after reviewing the rates of similar products in
the South Asian Market. These rates will be trend setting in further projects of the company that
will command higher rates than any available resort or hotel.

So technically we don’t face any competition and we exist as complimentary to other hotels in
Vaishali, as our resort will introduce Vaishali as a destination in itself.

The ARRs given are based on promoter’s ability to introduce and brand lesser known
destinations and hotels.
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2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18

ARR 4750 5250 5500 6000 6000 6000 6000
Average
Occupancy 21.50% 40.20% 51% 55% 55% 55% 55%
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12.0 PROECT COST

The construction cost of each project difers on account of differential labor cost,
material cost and operator's standard specifications.

The broad heads under which the overall project / construction cost is spread is shown
in the table below:

COST AND FINANCE OF PROJECT

(Rs. In (lacs)
PARTICULARS AMOUNT

COST

Land cost 90.00

Civil Additions 375.00
Plant & Machinery 201.90
Electricals and Equipments 100.00
Interiors, Furniture & Fixtures 400.00

Cutlery, Crockery, Linen etc 75.00

Pre-op Expenses 180.00

TOTAL 1,421.90

MEANS OF FINANCE

a. Promoters Equity 180.00

b. Equity partner 250.00
c. Internal Accruals -
d. Foreign Partner (Seed Capital ECB) -
e Term Loan from banks
From banks & FI's 991.90
From SBI FCL / ECB
f. Working Capital Loan -
TOTAL 1,421.90

END OF REPORT
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