Deepika Rao
Executive Vice President – New Businesses, Hotel Openings and Corporate Communications
IHCL
IHCL
A leader with close to 25 years of experience, Deepika Rao dons’ multiple hats within IHCL. She heads
the company’s New Businesses vertical which comprises four brands – Ginger, Qmin, amã Stays & Trails
and Tree of Life. In addition to driving the business growth and performance of each of these brands,
she is the custodian of balance sheet strength and governance, in her capacity as the Chairperson of the
three legal entities which house these brands, viz. Roots Corporation Limited, Ideal Ice Limited and
Rajscape Hotels Private Limited.
In her capacity as the head of Hotel Openings, she manages IHCL’s industry-leading and robust pipeline
of 240+ hotels, translating this into record number of openings for the Company, while upholding the
highest levels of excellence and standards. Deepika also spearheads the Corporate Communications
function of IHCL, shaping the Company’s narrative and engaging with all external stakeholders on the
company’s strategy and its execution.
Deepika Rao is a postgraduate in Economics, she belongs to the Tata Administrative Services cadre and
began her career with Tata Motors. She joined Indian hotels in 2006 and has held various responsibilities
in functions such as Business Development, Asset Management and MD and CEO of Roots Corporation
Limited – the company that operates Ginger hotels where she led the re-imagination of the brand and
scaled the portfolio to 100+ hotels.