Mumbai: Real estate major Emaar MGF has tied up with UK''s largest hospitality firm Whitbread to develop 80 hotels across India, with planned investments of nearly $600 million (about Rs2,500 crore).

The company has signed a 50:50 joint venture with Premier Travel Inn, a subsidiary of Whitbread, for setting up 80 limited service hotels in the country by 2017.

"The joint venture is in line with our ambitious hospitality plans and will serve to be a quantum leap for the sector in the country," Emaar MGF executive vice-chairman and managing director Shravan Gupta said in a statement.

These limited service hotels, to be developed under the ''Premier Travel Inn'' brand, having over 12,000 rooms, are being positioned between a business and budget category, it said.

"Our entry into India will fill a gap in the country''s hotel market by providing a high quality branded budget hotel product," Whitbread chief executive Alan Parker said.

This is the second major announcement in the hospitality sector by has another joint venture with ACCOR, signed last year..

Premier Travel Inn is UK''s biggest hotel brand with over 480 hotels and more than 32,600 rooms. The partners said they plan to bring 100 Formula 1 hotels across India with an investment of $300 million.

Premier Travel Inn is targeting a price segment of Rs2,400 and Rs3,600 a day to attract business and leisure travellers seeking high quality branded budget hotel accomodation, the statement added.