The Indian Hotel Company Limited, the Tata company that runs the Taj chain of hotels, on Wednesday won the bid for a 33-year lease of The Connaught hotel in Lutyens’ Delhi. The New Delhi Municipal Corporation organised the e-auction for the 85-room, four-star hotel on Janpath lane in central Delhi that was closed in 2013 after the previous operator ran it for 18 years without a licence from the civic body.

“We are extremely delighted to win the bid for The Connaught, New Delhi,” a spokesperson for the group told the Hindustan Times in an e-mail response. “The hotel is located strategically in Lutyens’ Delhi, the city’s most coveted address in the heart of the Capital.”

The Indian Hotel Company Limited will pay 31.8% of the gross turnover or Rs 5.868 crore per annum, whichever is higher, an unidentified senior NDMC official told PTI. “This current auction has yielded more than the double revenue that the NDMC was getting from this hotel,” the official added.

The company, however, did not indicate when the hotel would be reopened as it requires extensive renovation, The Times of India reported. With this, there are 15 Taj hotels in the Delhi-National Capital Region. The group is also expected to bid for the Asian International hotel in central Delhi on Thursday.

The civic body is also looking to auction the prime Taj Mansingh hotel, which is slated for July 18 but will be held only if three eligible bids are received by July 9.