Leading hospitality company Wyndham Hotel Group today signed franchise agreements for 10 properties in India to be opened by mid-year 2017.

"In India we have 2,500 rooms operating under our brands. With the addition of 10 new properties and 1,088 rooms it will take the tally of properties operating under Wyndham Hotel Group brands to 43 with approximately 4,841 rooms, making it the fastest growing franchise business in the country," Wyndham Hotel Group President and Chief Executive Officer Geoff Ballotti told reporters here.

The 10 properties, which will operate under the Ramada Encore and Howard Johnson brands, will be located in Gurgaon (National Capital Region), Darjeeling (West Bengal), Greater Noida (NCR), Jaisalmer (Rajasthan), Pali (Rajasthan), Lonere (Lonere), Dharmapuri (Tamil Nadu), Bangalore (KArnataka), Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Trivandrum (Kerala).

The new properties will be in line with the company's focus to strengthen its presence in existing markets and also to tap the rapidly growing secondary markets in India.

All of the hotels are expected to be open by mid-year 2017. The global hospitality group is looking at introducing two more upscale and mid segment brands - Wyndham Garden and Super 8 - in the country.

"We are looking at opportunities for introducing our upscale brand Wyndham Garden in tier one cities and Budget brand Super 8 in the country. Rest of the brands are already present in India," Wyndham Hotel group Regional Vice President, Indian Ocean, EMEAI, Deepika Arora said.

The company, she said, going ahead will continue to focus on its expansion in the tier II and III cities where the growth is maximum.

"India is one of the key focus market for the company and by 2017, we are expecting to reach 50 hotels mark in India from the existing 24 properties," she added.

The company, which also has properties in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan, is also planning to foray into Bangladesh soon, Arora said.

Wyndham Hotel Group, part of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, is the world's largest and most diverse hotel company with about 7,540 hotels and 650,200 rooms in 71 countries under the brands - Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8, Wingate by Wyndham, Baymont Inn & Suites, Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, TRYP by Wyndham, Howard Johnson, Travelodge and Knights Inn.

The company also has a licence agreement to franchise the Planet Hollywood Hotels brand.