Launched in 2007, Abhibus.com has been instrumental in enabling both the private operators and state transport undertakings. Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, founder and CEO, Abhibus.com says his primary focus has been on providing technology solutions to the bus industry since the inception of the company. By Kahini Chakraborty
What is the market opportunity in the bus-booking segment in India?
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| Sudhakar Reddy Chirra |
The long distance bus ticketing industry, including both state transport companies and private operators, is around Rs 40,000 crore annually, of which private operators control nearly Rs 15,000 crore annually. Of the Rs 15,000 crore segment, the online long distance bus ticket-booking platform is around 10 per cent while the rest is controlled through cash sales or agents. With increasing internet users and bandwidth infrastructure there is a huge potential for the bus-ticketing segment in India. We will continue to provide technology solutions to the operators and facilitate the online distribution platform as in the years to come it would be the major distribution channels. It is also in the interest of abhibus.com as we would be aggregating more inventory in the process. Our revenue models with them might change in the coming years. We have already moved on from an annual solution fee to an incremental percentage fee on their inventory distributed by us.
What new offerings does the company plan to introduce?
Innovation is the key to any business and new offerings for the consumers is a part of our strategy. Our mobile website is already live, and for the first time in the bus travel, we would be introducing insurance as an option for consumers while they are booking bus tickets. We would also be launching ‘Book a Meal’ as a value added service.
Which destinations receive most bus bookings? Is there any seasonality in bus travel in India?
The bus market is predominantly in South and West. At this juncture more than 50 per cent of our bookings are from South India. Having said that, we are witnessing encouraging response on bookings from western India. Bookings are full during vacation and festive seasons.
What is the ratio of online bookings vis a vis travel agents?
We are in the process of reaching out to more consumers and also building an agent distribution network. Today consumer sales contribute to about 75 per cent and the remaining 25 per cent by agents.
How has the company grown since the last financial year?
Abhibus.com has played the lead role for our growth story since mid 2012. We began garnering significant amount of users on our portal and our consumer business has been contributing significantly to the overall company’s growth. By mid 2012 we enabled most operators and in the process aggregated a sizable inventory of bus content across India. That is when we kick started our consumer campaign and there has been no looking back. As far as the services are concerned we have a pan India network with more than 1500 operators and 15000 routes aggregated. We are also the source API for other booking portals like Makemytrip, Goibibo, etc. And through our private operators we facilitate inventory to portals like redbus.
What is the business expectation this year?
We plan to aggregate more inventory and be aggressive on the distribution side too. We plan to position abhibus.com as the preferred choice of online booking for bus travel. On the revenues side in 2012-13, the company has clocked revenues of nearly Rs 150 crore and is expecting to garner Rs 350 crore in 2013-14 and around Rs 700 crore in 2014-15. We are not competing for the existing market pie. More than competing with big players the game will be to acquire new customers and provide new experiences and platforms to connect.
