Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, India's largest hotel chain, has expressed an interest in starting a new venture in Qatar, reports www.ehotelier.com, quoting an unnamed Tata official's interview with the Persian Gulf state's The Peninsula newspaper.

The official is quoted as saying that the chain, which, incidentally, has been earlier in the news for its blue-chip acquisitions in New York and Sydney, was mulling over the idea of setting up a project in Doha.

Taj Hotels, which is a part of the multi-billion-dollar business empire headed by Ratan Tata, is a partner in Qatar Airways' Frequent Flyer programme.

" Doha is of interest to us. But we have to look at things like the size of the property we want to set up, what kind of hotel it should be and other aspects like land," the official said in the newspaper interview. "Any property we set up would be in partnership, possibly with the Qatar National Hotels Company," he said, not ruling out business with other companies from the private sector.

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata said they had no immediate plans to set up a hotel in Qatar but was open to the idea. Taj Hotels is already present in a major way in Dubai, Yemen and Oman.