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Online travel firm MakemyTrip is looking to ramp up its offerings in the corporate travel segment, including through acquisitions.
As a part of this strategy, the company recently picked up a majority stake in Mumbai-based Quest2Travel.com for an undisclosed amount.
MakemyTrip, through its ‘myBiz’ app, already caters to the travel requirements in the small and medium businesses; while Quest2Travel will target large corporates.
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) says that India has been witnessing a 11.4 per cent annual growth in business travel spend, which is among the highest in the world.
According to Raj Rishi Singh, Chief Business Officer, Corporate Travel, MakemyTrip, the Quest2Travel acquisition gives the company a firm foothold in the large corporate travel space.
“We now have separate offerings targeting small and medium enterprises and also the large corporates. As the requirements in the two categories are different, our products will also be distinct from one another. The idea now is to grab more market share here,” he told BusinessLine .
The ‘myBiz’ app, on its part, has witnessed an average quarter-on-quarter growth of 50 per cent for the last seven quarters.
Scaling up offerings
The corporate travel market in India continues to be fragmented, with a handful of organised players accounting for 30 per cent of it. Singh said that there is scope for growth, with organised players consolidating market share.
According to him, the organised players will bring in transparency in rates and offer a wide variety of choices. This apart, other benefits include the introduction of bills to facilitate GST savings.
Accordingly, the company is looking to scale up offerings across the Quest2Travel site. The site boasts of clients like Tata Motors, HDFC Ergo and the Aditya Birla Group.
Its offerings are spread across categories such as flight bookings, internal guest house bookings and third-party inventory listings. Post acquisition, MakemyTrip has integrated its hotels inventory with the listing.
Another plan that is in the works is Quest2Travel’s own cab services. Right now the service is being provided through third party vendors.
“We intend to be a complete solutions provider in the corporate travel segment,” Singh said.
We now have separate offerings targeting small and medium enterprises and also the large corporates. As the requirements in the two categories are different, our products will also be distinct from one another.
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