IHCL Q2 Results October 21, 2026: Profit Up 23% to ₹349 Crore, Revenue Guidance Raised

IHCL Q2 results came out after market hours on October 21, 2026, and the Taj owner has called it its eighteenth record quarter in a row. Profit attributable to shareholders rose 23% year-on-year to ₹349 crore, and the company raised its full-year revenue growth guidance, according to the press release The Indian Hotels Company filed with NSE and BSE.

If you saw a different profit number elsewhere, you weren’t imagining it. The Economic Times reported a 19.35% rise to ₹379.85 crore. Both figures are correct. They just measure different things, and we’ll get to that below.

IHCL Q2 results: the consolidated numbers

These come from the reviewed results filed with the exchanges for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, compared with the same quarter last year:

• Revenue from operations: ₹2,484.32 crore, up 21.7% from ₹2,040.89 crore.
• Total income (including other income): ₹2,566.17 crore, up 20.8% from ₹2,124.25 crore. This is the ₹2,566 crore “revenue” figure in the press release.
• Total expenses: ₹2,017.41 crore, up 20.7% from ₹1,671.54 crore.
• EBITDA: ₹788 crore, up 21%, with a 30.7% margin, as stated in the press release.
• Profit attributable to owners: ₹349.49 crore, up 22.7% from ₹284.92 crore.
• Total profit for the period: ₹379.85 crore, up 19.4% from ₹318.26 crore.

So here’s the difference. ₹379.85 crore is the whole group’s profit, including the slice that belongs to minority shareholders in IHCL’s subsidiaries (₹30.36 crore this quarter). Strip that out and you get ₹349.49 crore for IHCL’s own shareholders. That is the number that drives earnings per share, so it’s the one we’d watch.

Against the June quarter, profit for owners slipped 2.3% from ₹357.90 crore. The quarter also carried a ₹4.01 crore exceptional charge for expenses tied to the proposed merger of an associate company. For the first half, owners’ profit stood at ₹707.39 crore, up 21.7%.

Where the growth came from

MD and CEO Puneet Chhatwal pointed to four drivers in the release: a 25% rise in RevPAR (revenue per available room) at domestic same-store hotels, a 25% jump in management fee income on the back of new openings, 25% revenue growth in the select service business, and contributions from the recently acquired Brij and Atmantan brands.

The standalone company did even better. Operating revenue grew 26% to ₹1,336 crore and profit after tax rose 36% to ₹393 crore. CFO Ankur Dalwani credited 28% RevPAR growth at full-service same-store hotels, helped by marquee events in Delhi and renovated hotels in Goa, Delhi, Bengaluru and Udaipur.

Costs did climb. Depreciation rose about 20% to ₹174.03 crore and finance costs about 16% to ₹64.84 crore, which partly explains why profit growth didn’t run far ahead of revenue growth.

Guidance raised and the hotel count

The bigger signal may be the outlook. IHCL lifted its FY2027 consolidated revenue growth guidance from 12-14% to 15-17%, with hotel segment revenue expected to grow 17-19%. The company signed 47 hotels in the first half and opened 20, taking the portfolio to 670 hotels, of which 390 are operating and 280 are in the pipeline. Gross cash stood at ₹4,369 crore at the end of September. The release also says the scheme to merge OHL into IHCL has been filed with the exchanges, with an appointed date of April 1, 2027.

What it means for investors

The results landed after Wednesday’s close, so Thursday’s session is the stock’s first chance to react. The guidance upgrade is the headline, but the sequential dip in profit and rising depreciation from new and renovated hotels are worth keeping in view. The second half is seasonally stronger for hotels, which is what the company is leaning on.

New to reading results like these? Our guide on how to analyse quarterly results covers the main lines, including why owners’ profit and total profit differ. For another large-cap Q2 update this week, see UltraTech Cement’s Q2 results.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and education only and is not investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a SEBI-registered adviser before making investment decisions.