OYO Hotels & Homes on Tuesday said it will invest ₹1,400 crore (about $200 million) during the current year for expansion of its India and south Asia business while improving customer experience.

The hospitality chain also announced the addition of its sixth brand — ‘Collection O’— under its portfolio.

More funds, if needed

“We are committing over ₹1,400 crore for technology investments, renovation, and managing investments for the calendar year, and will provide more, if needed, to help the team ensure continued economically efficient growth,” said Ritesh Agarwal, founder and group CEO.

“With a strong balance sheet, today we can go to more places than ever, introduce new categories, invest in our assets, while maintaining our high quality standards, without raising any further capital,” he added.

The company is currently present in over 259 cities in India with over 8,700 hotels and homes, and more than 1,73,000 rooms. On expansion plans outside India, Mr. Agarwal said that OYO already has large operations within their home markets of India and China, along with south east Asia, Europe and West Asia.

“We have already committed to invest $600 million in China… we still have a large balance sheet to invest across other geographies and we will continue to expand across middle east and south east Asia actively. We have seen good results in London, and if we continue seeing these results, we will double down in Europe as well.”

The firm’s CEO, India and south Asia, Aditya Ghosh said, “Today, with the further investment of ₹1,400 crore and the launch of mid-market brand ‘Collection O’ hotels, I think we are all set to ensure our customers get the best experience and prices like always — but just a little better than yesterday. ”