‘This is absurd, giving bad name to India’: Mohandas Pai slams Delhi hotel tariffs before AI summit

As New Delhi prepares to host the India AI Impact Summit, room tariffs at some of the capital’s top luxury hotels have climbed sharply. The spike has, however, drawn criticism from Mohandas Pai, former Infosys CFO and chairman of Aarin Capital, who warned that such pricing risks damaging India’s global image.

“This is absurd, giving bad name to India that overseas visitors are not welcome and we fleece them. Prices can increase not 10 or 15 times. Very wrong. Hotel chains need a Code of Conduct. We need huge no of rooms. India has only 185000 rooms, Dubai, Shanghai, New York have more rooms than India. Need huge capacity increases,” Pai wrote on X.

Tariffs touch Rs 30 lakh a night

The surge comes ahead of the India AI Impact Summit, scheduled in New Delhi from February 19 to 20, 2026. The event follows the AI Action Summit in Paris in February 2025, and is expected to bring global technology leaders and policymakers to the capital, including Sundar Pichai and Sam Altman.

At IHCL’s Taj Palace, a ‘Garden Luxury Suite’ with a king bed and pool view is priced at Rs 27.55 lakh per night during the summit window, with taxes of around Rs 5 lakh taking the total to nearly Rs 32 lakh for stays between February 16 and 20, Moneycontrol reported on Monday.  

Just days earlier, on February 13–14, the same room was available for about Rs 2 lakh a night, including taxes. Tariffs during the summit period are nearly 1,500 percent higher than the Valentine’s Day peak, the report said. 

For February 16–17, most luxury-category rooms at the Taj Palace are already sold out, according to the hotel’s website. Several categories — including Superior and Luxury rooms with Diplomatic Enclave views, as well as premium offerings such as the Garden Presidential two-bedroom suite and the Presidential Suite with pool view — are marked unavailable.

Other luxury properties are also reflecting elevated rates. At The Leela Palace in New Delhi, Maharaja Suite rooms are priced at Rs 6.9 lakh a night for non-members and Rs 5.9 lakh for members checking in on February 16. At The Oberoi, New Delhi, luxury suites are available for Rs 5.5 lakh. At Andaz Delhi by Hyatt, a Signature Suite is priced at Rs 3.86 lakh.