Easy Trip Planners Posts Profit In FY21 Aided By Cost Cuts, Higher Commissions
Easy Trip Planners maintained its streak of profitability, aided by cost cuts among other reasons, in a pandemic-marred year.
Even in a pandemic-marred year, with the tourism industry facing a near washout, Easy Trip Planners Ltd. maintained its streak of profitability, aided by cost cuts among other reasons.
The recently-listed ticketing platform’s profit rose eightfold year-on-year to Rs 30 crore in the year ended March even as booking revenue halved. That’s its thirteenth consecutive year of profitability and came as the company emerged leaner, more efficient as they cut costs “dramatically” and increased commissions sharply, according to its co-founder Prashant Pitti.
“We saw an opportunity in our suppliers—airlines, hotels, bus operators. They were cash hungry. EaseMyTrip being a cash-rich company, we gave them advanced deposits in lieu of better commissions,” Pitti told BloombergQuint in an interview. “Hence, our overall commissions increased during this period.”
The company also managed to halve its expenses to Rs 67 crore in FY21. “Among our five cost-setters—discounts, marketing, employee costs, payment gateway charges and other administration expenses—we managed to cut down all costs drastically except gateway charges.”
He said the travel and tourism market will witness demand recovery starting mid-June. “Revenge travel is real and the pent-up demand is manifesting,” he said. "Compared to May, our bookings are almost three times higher.”
Following the pandemic, Pitti is certain that average revenue per user will also go up and the travel industry will emerge as one of its biggest beneficiaries.
Watch the full interview here: