Indore, Pride Hotels is looking to launch its initial public offering (IPO) by December, with the issue size expected to be around Rs 1,000 crore, as the hospitality chain accelerates expansion across leisure, wedding and corporate events and pilgrimage destinations, CEO Satyen Jain said.

“We have opened nine hotels in the last 12 months. This is the ninth in Indore,” Jain said in an interaction with PTI.

The expansion has taken Pride Hotels’ portfolio to 40 properties, including eight owned hotels and 32 managed properties. The company has also signed contracts for another 32 hotels, which are expected to open over the next one-and-a-half to two years, taking its portfolio to about 72 properties.

“Our focus is on four segments — going deep in the markets where we are already present, targeting large wedding and MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition) hotels, entering new leisure destinations and expanding in pilgrimage,” Jain said.

Among these, pilgrimage destinations are emerging as an attractive opportunity, given the strong potential for repeat business.

“Unlike a holiday destination… in pilgrimage, if you believe in that particular God, you will keep going multiple times in a year. So there are a lot of repeat customers,” he said.
Puri, for instance, is seen as a promising market as it attracts both religious travellers and wedding-related business, he added.To support the expansion, the company is also looking to increase the share of owned properties in its portfolio, Executive Director Atul Upadhyay said.

Beyond pilgrimage, Pride Hotels expects leisure travel to benefit from rising per-capita income, better air and highway connectivity and changing consumer preferences. Jain said younger consumers are increasingly prioritising experiences, with the frequency of holidays also rising.

“People are taking much more holidays and its frequency is going up a lot,” Jain said, adding that younger consumers increasingly prefer “creating experiences” over acquiring things.

Against this backdrop of expansion, the company is also preparing to tap the capital markets.

“Pride Hotels plans to launch its IPO by December, with the issue size remaining around Rs 1,000 crore,” Jain said.

The Mumbai-based hospitality chain, which filed its preliminary papers with Sebi in October 2025, received approval to float the IPO in January 2026.

According to the draft papers, the public issue comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 260 crore and an offer for sale of up to 3.92 crore shares by promoters and promoter group entities.

The proceeds will be used to fund capital expenditure towards renovation of existing hotels, repayment of debt and general corporate purposes.

Pride Hotels remains focused on the upscale segment and may launch a boutique upper-upscale brand, Pride Lux, as it looks to broaden its offering.

While the expansion outlook remains positive, rising operating costs are emerging as a concern. Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) S P Jain said gas and electricity expenses have risen 8-9 per cent, weighing on the bottom line.

To contain these costs, the company is investing in wind and solar power as well as energy-efficient equipment. He noted that air conditioning accounts for a major share of a hotel’s electricity consumption and said efficient chillers could help reduce power usage.

Apart from cost pressure, the CMD also flagged licensing as the biggest challenge for the hospitality industry, saying multiple approvals can delay the opening of hotels even after construction is complete.

“Biggest challenge in hospitality is licences,” he said, calling for a more streamlined approval mechanism.

To a query on international foray, Jain said for now, Pride Hotels remains focused on the domestic market and has not signed any overseas hotel. However, the company could explore international markets with significant Indian traveller traffic. PTI

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Elevated global bond yields continue to cause concern in the market. Analysts say the US Treasury’s recent move to ease bond yields failed to provide lasting comfort, given surging crude prices and persistent inflation fears. Domestically, the RBI’s hawkish meeting minutes have pushed India’s 10-year yield to a two-month high, driven by local inflation risks and tighter liquidity. Meanwhile, recent services PMI data shows domestic resilience amid an uncertain global environment.

Here are two stock recommendations for Friday:

Jayaswal Neco Industries – Buy | Buying Zone: Rs 100-101 | Stop-loss: Rs 95 | Target: Rs 110

Strong decisive breakout above horizontal resistance at Rs 96 with surging volume. The price has reclaimed all short-term EMAs (20, 50 and 100), and RSI is expanding towards 68, confirming fresh bullish momentum for a continuation towards Rs 110.

(Virat Jagad, Senior Technical Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio)

Alkyl Amines – Buy | Buying Zone: Rs 2,050-2,060 | Stop-loss: Rs 1,975 | Target: Rs 2,250
Clean breakout from consolidation above the Rs 2,000 resistance level on strong volume. Trading safely above all key moving averages (20, 50, 100 and 200 EMA), with RSI strengthening near 66, signalling uptrend momentum towards Rs 2,250.(Virat Jagad, Senior Technical Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio)

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)

After having been in the investing world for more than 25 years from private banking and investment management to private and venture capital; I have pretty much “been there and done that” at one point or another. I am currently a partner at RIA Advisors in Houston, Texas. The majority of my time is spent analyzing, researching and writing commentary about investing, investor psychology and macro-views of the markets and the economy. My thoughts are not generally mainstream and are often contrarian in nature but I try an use a common sense approach, clear explanations and my “real world” experience in the process. I am a managing partner of RIA Pro, a weekly subscriber based-newsletter that is distributed to individual and professional investors nationwide. The newsletter covers economic, political and market topics as they relate to your money and life. I also write a daily blog which is read by thousands nationwide from individuals to professionals at www.realinvestmentadvice.com.

Homebuyers across the United States now face a significantly longer financial timeline before purchasing a home makes more sense than renting, according to a new analysis from real estate technology company Zillow, which found that a median-income household needs nearly 15 years to both save for a down payment and financially break even on homeownership.

According to Zillow, a household setting aside 10% of the median income needs 8.5 years to reach a 20% down payment on a typical single-family home nationally, followed by another 6.2 years before buying becomes more cost-effective than continuing to rent. Combined, that puts the total national breakeven timeline at just under 15 years, a figure Zillow arrived at by measuring two distinct phases: the time required to save for a down payment, and the additional time needed to recover the upfront costs of homeownership relative to renting.

“Buying a home is a financial commitment measured not just in dollars, but in years,” Zillow wrote in its analysis. “Whether to buy or rent is a complex question that depends on where you want to live and your lifestyle preferences, in addition to your financial situation.”

Kara Ng, senior economist at Zillow, said the breakeven timeline offers homebuyers a more complete picture of a housing market than list prices alone can provide. “The common wisdom is that saving early to buy a home is the smart financial move, but the reality is more nuanced,” Ng said. “The breakeven number tells you something about a market that a price tag alone doesn’t.” Ng encouraged prospective buyers to factor that longer horizon directly into their decision-making process. “Buyers should think about not just when they can afford to buy, but how long they’d need to stay before owning makes more financial sense than renting,” she said. “Homeownership comes with equity and stability, while renting offers flexibility and freedom from maintenance bills and emergencies.”

Zillow’s analysis found dramatic variation in breakeven timelines depending on location, driven largely by differences in local rent trends and home price appreciation. In Austin, Texas, a household saving for a down payment reaches the 20% threshold in roughly eight years, faster than the national pace, but then faces an 18-year wait before homeownership becomes financially advantageous compared with renting, a delay Zillow attributed in part to recently declining local rental costs. Miami tells a different story: buyers there spend roughly five additional years saving for a down payment compared with Austin, but reach the breakeven point in about half the time once they do purchase, meaning Miami homebuyers ultimately come out ahead financially roughly three years sooner than their counterparts in Austin.

The report identified purchasing a starter home, defined by Zillow as a property in the bottom third of regional home values, as one of the clearest ways buyers can shorten their overall timeline. On a national level, Zillow found that buying an entry-level home rather than renting a typical apartment cuts the total combined savings-and-breakeven timeline roughly in half, to just 7.2 years.

However, Zillow’s data suggests many buyers remain reluctant to take on properties requiring significant renovation work despite the potential savings such properties often offer. “However, with the cost of homeownership this high, buyers have signaled they do not want an expensive project,” Zillow wrote. According to the company’s research, turnkey homes, those ready for immediate move-in without renovation, sell for 2.9% more than expected, while homes noted as recently remodeled in their listing descriptions sell for 2.2% more than comparable homes without such renovations mentioned. By contrast, fixer-upper homes sell for 14% less than comparable move-in-ready properties. Zillow cautioned that while not every starter home requires renovation, buyers considering a fixer-upper should carefully account for the full cost of ownership, including the likelihood of future repairs.

The current, extended homebuying timeline represents a substantial deterioration compared with conditions before the pandemic. Zillow found that today’s national breakeven timeline runs nearly four years longer than the 11-year wait homebuyers faced back in July 2019, underscoring how significantly affordability has eroded over the intervening years.

Zillow attributed much of the current affordability crisis to a persistent nationwide housing shortage, which the company estimates stands at 4.7 million homes. According to the analysis, metropolitan areas with the largest housing shortages tend to also carry the longest breakeven timelines for prospective buyers. Los Angeles, for example, has the second-largest housing deficit in the country at nearly 345,000 homes, translating into a breakeven timeline of almost 38 years for buyers in that market.

To address the shortage, Zillow has advocated for a range of policy changes aimed at lowering construction costs and encouraging new housing development, including updating local zoning laws to allow for higher-density housing, simplifying municipal permit approval processes, and expanding access to financing options for manufactured homes.

Zillow’s warning arrives as mortgage rates have shown modest signs of easing in recent weeks. Freddie Mac reported Aug. 20 that the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stood at 6.65%, down slightly from 6.67% the previous week. “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined this week averaging 6.65%,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, adding that Freddie Mac emphasized borrowers can still save meaningfully by comparison shopping among lenders for the best available rate. Separately, Mortgage News Daily reported a daily 30-year fixed rate of 6.77% as of Aug. 21, with the outlet’s Matthew Graham noting that recent bond market volatility was unrelated to the U.S. Treasury Department’s mid-week announcement regarding its expanded bond buyback program, characterizing the earlier market reaction to that news as having been “overdone.”

With economic data expected to pick up significantly in the coming week, including anticipated remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at the central bank’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, mortgage rates and broader housing affordability trends are likely to remain closely watched by prospective buyers weighing whether current market conditions justify committing to the increasingly lengthy financial timeline Zillow’s analysis has identified as the new reality facing most Americans looking to transition from renting to homeownership.

The Bank of Thailand is ready to host the 2026 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, expecting 15,000-20,000 participants and showcasing Thai culture, benefiting tourism and economic cooperation.

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Key Points

• The Bank of Thailand (BOT) is prepared to host the 2026 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, expecting 15,000 to 20,000 global participants, including finance ministers and economic experts.
• The event will highlight Thai culture with local cuisine and traditional textiles, and the BOT encourages public engagement to welcome visitors.
• Hosting the meetings is anticipated to provide significant economic opportunities for Thailand, particularly benefiting the tourism sector and showcasing the country’s role in international economic cooperation.

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has affirmed that the country is fully prepared to host the 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group, with between 15,000 and 20,000 participants and accompanying delegates expected from around the world.

BOT Assistant Governor Chayawadee Chai-anant said the meetings will welcome finance ministers, central bank governors, and leading economic and financial experts. The expected turnout would make the gathering one of the largest IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings held outside Washington, D.C.

Thai culture will feature throughout the event, including local cuisine for delegates and traditional textiles from different regions used at the venues. Chayawadee also encouraged the public to welcome international visitors and take pride in Thailand’s role as host.

The BOT expects the meetings to provide economic opportunities for Thailand, including benefits for the tourism sector, allowing the country to demonstrate its role in international economic cooperation. 

Source : Thailand Ready to Host 2026 IMF World Bank Meetings