Ixigo and Cleartrip Battle for Second Place

“"Buses and trains become very important because 60-70% of India’s travelling universe sits in these two categories. So, the idea is to make buses and trains our acquisition engine. Roughly 9 million people become first-time flyers every year, and today we miss that opportunity completely because a competition who already has these businesses is able to leverage their databases."”

“"For Cleartrip, this year was about putting in place some of the foundational layers. It is funny to call them foundational because Cleartrip is an old company, but as an organization we had never quite been able to get a real grip on it."”

“"The debate about the number two position is finally over. If you look at impact, we touch more travellers than anyone else. On financial metrics like revenue or GTV (gross transaction value), we are number two. On growth, we are number one because we are the fastest growing OTA (online travel agency)."”

“"I wish there were less supply constraints in flights, trains, and hotels. It just seems like we are perennially constrained as a country in terms of the number of planes, trains and even hotels we have versus what we need."”

“"There is a perception that the industry has been around for a very long period, but when we look at some of the underlying numbers in terms of internet penetration, we are still far behind (many other markets). Travel is at an inflection point. Once GDP (gross domestic product) reaches a certain stage, sectors like travel benefit disproportionately. We think overall travel is a long-term secular growth story."”

“"Ixigo’s growth has not been marketing-driven. They raised less than $100 million until the Prosus investment in their entire journey, and they had already built a very large business."”

“"There is both a penetration story and a market expansion story here. Online penetration is still barely 50% (of the total travel pie), so the scope for growth is huge."”

“"International is the silver lining. It is one of the reasons the margins come in (for OTAs)."”

“"Air yields wafer-thin commissions and is a duopoly (India’s domestic aviation market is mostly split between market leader Indigo and Air India). If you do not expand horizontally to non-air categories, you hit a revenue ceiling with no profitability in sight."”