Lalit Suri (15 April 1947 – 10 October 2006) was the 'uncrowned hotel king' of India and a member of the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of India's Parliament). Born on April 15, 1947 in Rawalpindi (Pakistan), Lalit Suri was elected to the Rajya Sabha as an Independent from Uttar Pradesh in 2002. He joined the family-run Delhi Automobile Ltd in 1971 but he struck gold when the group diversified into hospitality business in 1982 with Suri as its Joint Managing Director. Suri commissioned his first hotel in the capital in 1988 and went on to become one of the prominent hoteliers in the country having a network of hotels across the country including the flagship InterContinental The Grand in Delhi, and grand hotels at Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Udaipur and Khajuraho. Suri was also the owner of the Midday newspaper in Delhi. An alumunus of Sri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi, Suri also won a number of prestigious awards and has been responsible for pushing a number of policy recommendations on the tourism sector.
