MakeMyTrip launches India Travel Site

MakeMyTrip launches India Travel Site Offers Lowest Airfare Guarantee Anywhere in India New Delhi, Delhi, India, Tuesday, September 06, 2005 -- (Business Wire India) MakeMyTrip.com, India's leading online travel company, today announced the launch of its new website for the Indian market. The website www.makemytrip.com offers online booking of air tickets, hotels, car rentals, weekend packages and road trips within and from India. The one-stop travel website aims to shift the power of information and decision making from the travel agent to the consumer. MakeMyTrip, launched in 2000, has grown at a fast pace to emerge as the leading travel company for travel from USA to India. Using this expertise and understanding, the India website has been developed and customized to suit the needs of the Indian traveller. Speaking at the launch, Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO, MakeMyTrip.com, said, "The timing is ideal for MakeMyTrip to enter the Indian market. The Indian travel & tourism (T&T) industry has been ranked as the second fastest growing T&T economy, Internet has crossed 25 million mark and e-commerce sales are likely to touch Rs 1080 crores by end of 2006". Deep added, "As India gears up for the boom in the tourism and ecommerce industry, MakeMyTrip will be there to help Indians buy travel products online anytime, anywhere. Given our success in the USA and the boom in the Indian market, we are confident that our competitive offering in India will meet with the same success as our international offerings". Exuding confidence about their product, MakeMyTrip, has launched their operations with an unbeatable "Lowest Airfare Guarantee". According to the offer if a customer finds an airfare lower than one offered on the website, the company will return the difference in the airfare. The Lowest Airfare Guarantee is valid on all domestic airlines, including the low cost carriers, operating in India. Keyur Joshi, Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer, MakeMyTrip.com, said, "After five successful years of international operations we have entered into the next phase of our growth. "In India we will offer fares from all the airlines, online booking of rooms in over 350 hotels, car rentals and the most exhaustive travel content", he said. Keyur pointed out that one of the outstanding features in MakeMyTrip is the airline tickets booking engine. The site also offers an interesting product called the Road-Trip section that gives the user myriad options for motorable trips from all large cities with interactive maps to plan the stop-overs enroute. While demonstrating the features of the indigenously developed search engine, Keyur said, "The website is powered by superior technology and will offer one of the most user-friendly experiences ever in India. The search engine on our India website is aptly termed, 'FarePundit' and will guide the user through all kinds of simple and complex travel itineraries." Elaborating on the marketing campaign, Sachin Bhatia, Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer, MakeMyTrip.com said, "We have a very powerful proposition for our launch communication, which is the Low Airfare Guarantee and demonstrates our confidence in our product and a keen understanding of what the customer is looking for today. The in-your-face launch communication will ride on a high decibel media campaign across TV, print, online, outdoor and other below the line activities, he added. While all the products will be sold online, MakeMyTrip has set up a 24x7 customer service operations to assist travellers who may have post-purchase requirements. Prospective travelers and customers can call toll free numbers from the US (1800-India-10) and India (1600-11-8747) or can chat online with the Travel Consultants. This world-class, 50-seater, call centre is located at New Delhi. About MMT MakeMyTrip was launched in 2000 as an online travel company catering to the USA to India market. The company grew by over 75% to register sales of over Rs 101 crores in the fiscal year ending March 2005. For the current year, MakeMyTrip is on track to achieve sales of Rs 200 crores. Headquartered at New Delhi, MakeMyTrip has served over 40,000 NRI's in the last five years, has a registered database of 125,000 NRI's and has an impressive year-on-year customer renewal rate of 30%. SoftBank Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF) recently boosted the company's growth plans with an investment of Rs 45 crores. SAIF currently manages a series of funds with over US$900 million in commitments and has invested in MMT to fund the latter's expansion plans in India and US. Media contact details Shilpa Gupta, AM Marketing, MakeMyTrip.com, +91 (11) 26566867, shilpa.gupta@makemytrip.com