Parvez Dewan, Chairman of ITDC said yesterday that he hoped that ITDC/Aldeasa and Alpha-Future had got it right with their respective successful bids for the duty free contracts at Mumbai and Delhi international airports.

Referring to the scale of the bids in an excellent session on the Indian market at TFWA's Singapore Asia Pacific conference yesterday, Dewan said that major suppliers were now onboard with ITDC/Aldeasa (with just two unnamed exceptions) and he hoped that the bid levels by the two operations would be seen to be justified as the concessions mature.

Dewan said that Alpha was paying 13 times what ITDC had been paying at Delhi and that ITDC/Aldeasa JV was paying eight times more than ITDC had previously paid at Mumbai.

But having sid that, Dewan added that he wouldn't be surprised if Alpha hit its target bcause the company has achieved these kind of numbers before. He also boldly said that when the ITDC/Aldeasa shops open later this year, he thinks they will also change all of the ideas people may have about Indian free shopping.

Just to remind readers, Alpha-Future has guaranteed $123m over the full term of its three-year plus contract at Delhi, while ITDC/Aldeasa has guaranteed around $100m for its three year duty free contract at Mumbai International Airport.