Ixigo Explores Move Into Corporate Travel as Airfares Squeeze Leisure Demand
Indian travel platform Ixigo plans to enter the corporate travel segment to secure steadier demand after organic usage from business users rises.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Ixigo is exploring a dedicated SME and corporate travel product.
- Surging airfares driven by conflict pressures are straining price-sensitive leisure travelers.
- Ixigo reported strong Q1 results with $580 million in GTV and record net profit.
Ixigo, a travel platform historically built around consumer and leisure travel, is signaling a potential expansion into small-business and corporate travel. The move was revealed by CEO Aloke Bajpai during the company's first-quarter earnings call on Thursday.
The company decided to eye the corporate sector after noticing significant organic usage from GST-registered users—such as merchants, traders, and unmanaged corporate travelers—who were already booking flights, buses, and trains on Ixigo's consumer apps without any dedicated business product designed for them.
Bajpai noted during the call that the platform has already observed meaningful usage from these business-registered users across its existing bus and train booking channels.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
A dedicated corporate offering would put Ixigo in direct competition with established incumbents Yatra and MakeMyTrip. This strategic push comes at a time when Ixigo's fastest-growing category, flights, is under strain due to Iran conflict-driven fare inflation, which has pushed domestic fares up by 22% and international fares up by nearly 38%, causing price-sensitive leisure travelers in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets to defer upgrades.
"We meaningfully see usage among merchants, traders, small business owners, unmanaged corporate travelers who use GST numbers on our platform already."
Aloke Bajpai, CEO of Ixigo
Expanding into corporate travel represents a vital diversification strategy for online travel agencies facing volatility in leisure demand caused by macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. Business travelers typically provide higher frequency and less price-sensitive revenue streams compared to leisure tourists. Since Ixigo already captures organic traffic from GST-registered users, developing targeted enterprise features allows them to monetize an existing user base more effectively.
Financially, Ixigo posted robust Q1 results, reporting a gross transaction value of $580 million, representing a 19% increase, alongside a record profit after tax of $3.5 million, up 81%. Buses stood out as its largest business by contribution margin, while trains commanded a 63% share of the OTA train market. This corporate expansion accompanies other diversification efforts, including the acquisition of hotel startup Brevistay and the rollout of its AI assistant Tara.
Source: Skift
Found something wrong in this article? Report an issue with this article
Comments
Leave a Comment