PANAJI
Jaidev Mody, the chairman of Delta Corp, a listed company which owns and operates the 'Deltin' brand of casinos and hotels, is bullish on Goa's prospects this season until the end of the current fiscal.
"Goa is very exciting for everyone today. A lot of visitation....and that drives our business," Mody said earlier this week in an interview with business news channel CNBC TV18 journalist Nigel D'Souza earlier last week.
He also said, the company is well placed to have the "best ever" performance in the second half of the 2022-23 financial year based on the performance of the first six months which he said had surpassed pre-Covid levels.
"We are on track to see a robust performance in H2FY23...expect to do better in the third and fourth quarter,” Mody said.
"The last 10 days of December and the first four to five days of January, you will be lucky to get a room anywhere, including in our hotel. You'll be lucky to get a spot, you know, at the casino," the Delta Corp chief said.
"There's a lot of visitation and sometimes we have lines outside. We are addressing it...we do not want people to wait. We'll try to make it smooth...but it is crazy...it is crazy every year....this year it is going to be crazier," Mody said in response to D'Souza asking about the company's Goa operations.
Delta Corp is the country's only gaming and hospitality company to be listed on the bourses and its operation in Goa is its core business.
Speaking further in the interview, Mody also said that a real estate project in Goa of around 200-odd apartments is currently at the construction stage and will be ready for sale in the middle of next year earning revenues upward of Rs 250 crore.
Its operations in Daman, where it has a five-star resort, however, have taken a hit over litigation related to the denial of a casino licence by the Union Territory administration, Mody revealed but expressed hope the court outcome will be positive.
In Goa, Delta Corp operates two off-shore casinos in the Mandovi river and also some onshore ones in hotels. Earlier in March this year, it took over the operations of the in-house Casino of Zuri White Sands resort in South Goa.
It also owns a resort Deltin Residency in Verem and has a big-ticket gaming amusement park project planned for the area around the Mopa airport which has got an in-principle nod from the Goa State Investment Promotion Board already.
