Online travel company IbiboGroup, which owns portals such as Goibibo.com, redBus.in and Travelboutique, has acquired online bus tracking and analytics platform YourBus.com for an undisclosed amount. With this, Ibibo is set to achieve a leadership position in the online travel space, taking on rivals such as Makemytrip.com, Yatra.com and Cleartrip.

Backed by South Africa’s venture capital firm Nasper, Ibibo had last year acquired RedBus for $135 million.

In a interview with Business Line , Ashish Kashyap, CEO of ibiboGroup, talks about the company’s growth, challenges and opportunities in the online bus ticketing space. Edited excerpts:

What is the rationale behind YourBus acquisition?

We want to take the bus travel experience to the next level. YourBus fits perfectly in our portfolio as we are the largest player in the bus travel segment after the acquisition of redBus. Currently, there are certain challenges in this segment as travellers sometimes do not know the exact location from where they can board. YourBus not only allows customers know about their travel details, but also sends out notifications whenever the bus is delayed, arrival times and distance of the travel. Besides, it helps bus operators increase their efficiency with the help of technology and analytics. It allows them to track their fleet’s location and whether they are running on time.

How much stake have you picked up in YourBus? What is the deal size and how does the integration work?

We have completely acquired YourBus, but can’t disclose the financial details. The company will be integrated with redBus with the entire team joining the latter. However, we will have different mobile applications for both services. Currently, about 200 buses present on the redBus platform have the YourBus services. We want to take that to 1,000 in the first year.

On the potential in the bus travel space? Who is your consumer?

We cater to the class of people who travel by luxury and semi-luxury buses. We have seen that most of our customers are executives working in metros but are from small towns.

Besides, we are seeing a spurt from students, small and medium businessmen and budget holiday-makers. Travel by bus helps them save many times compared with air travel.

Do you see any significant jump in the online bus ticketing business?

We have seen a significant jump in people taking the bus for short-haul, religious and holiday travels.

However, it is still an under-penetrated category.

The online bus segment is at 9 per cent compared to air travel at 35 per cent. My personal view is that the overlap between the two modes of transport is still very small.

What is the market size for bus travel in India? How much of that comes from online and what is driving the growth for Ibibo?

The overall bus travel segment is pegged at $3 billion (₹18,000 crore) in India, and online contributes about 9 per cent. However, the segment is growing and much of it is attributed to the booking through mobile apps. We are doing 10 times through mobile compared with what we did last year.

With growth in bus travel and recent acquisitions, where do you see yourself in the overall online travel space?

We are the largest in terms of transaction in the online space and this pegs us at the second position only after Indian Railways.

We are working on using technology to remove certain lacunae in the segment and at the same time increase the supply side.

We want to be the online travel company which acts like a marketplace that allows operators to list effortlessly and at the same time allow consumers to transact seamlessly on all our platforms.

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