Deep Kalra, pioneered the online travel field and at times felt customer and investor delight. Real businesses take a lifetime to build and Deep Kalra’s journey justifies it. His sharp focus and complete devotion for more than a decade has taken Makemytrip to this level.
The Founder: He pursued his Bachelors in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, in 1987 in Delhi. After that he did his MBA from IIM-A. He went with the flow and took the banking job. His first job was with ABN Amro Bank which he was really excited about. After 3 years he got stagnant and realized bank is something he didn’t wanted to do for the rest of his life. He quit his job and took rest for an year to figure out what he really want to do.
The Idea: This free time made him realize one should do what you really like and if you are doing what you love doing then you are the best in your field. This break helped him to follow the call. Meanwhile he got many high paid marketing jobs and among them he decided to choose the craziest one. So he took the job of bringing AMF Bowling Inc. to India. Task was tough and that’s why he went around places to set up bowling alleys but the competition was really tough. It was a financial disaster for him but great entrepreneurial experience. He quit after four years. Post AMF he decided to gain more corporate experience than diving into it. In between Deep also had couple of things that created a strong faith in the internet. He also planned a trip in Thailand with his wife where he books a hotel through online which went well. Now he was ready to take the plunge and get into the travel business because of the good experience. It was too early for e-commerce but for him this was the right direction to move in. Makemytrip was born in 2000 and the rest is history.
The Team: The team consists of chairman, CEO, chief commercial officer, Vice president Etc. The founding team consists of Keyur Joshi, Deep Kalra, Sachin Bhatia and Rajesh Magow. After serving for 10 years Sachin Bhatia left Makemytrip and worked independently as an advisor in the company.
The Service: Makemytrip provides bus and rail tickets including features like AC sleeper, Volvo, semi-sleeper, deluxe etc. They also provide flight tickets in International and domestic travel from India. Makemyrtrip has also introduced cab hire services from 2010 in conjunction with holiday booking packages. There are around 12,000 hotels that are compared and searched through Makemytrip website. In 2012 they came up with mobile applications for Android, Blackberry and iPhone. One section of Makemytrip also provides basic information about the route planning for the traveler.
The Growth: Things look brighter for the travel market in India with the success of IRCTC which enabled the traveler to purchase online tickets. This site sells around 2400 tickets every day. Makemytrip started its operation in September 2005 offering online flight tickets along with hotel packages and hotel bookings. In August 2010 it went public in US market. In 2011 it focused in developing the travel mobile apps and also made other acquisitions like Hotel Travel group, ITC Group to enter in South-East Asian markets.
He is glad that he took all the risk and didn’t give up on India’s domestic market. He reached the scale in half the time and would say Makemytrip would be next dot com IPO.
His clear vision and determined mindset have always been inspiring. This story beautifully captures his journey and the essence of his leadership. Thanks for sharing!
Deep Kalra is one of the finest entrepreneurs of our time. His vision and mindset are very clear. Thanks for sharing this story.