GROUP No.

7
Tourism & Hospitality

Submitted to :

Submitted by:

Mr. Shriram Purankar

Sunil Kaushik (14609114)

Aman Joshi (15609005)
Proteek Mukherjee (15609004)
Sachin Dominic (15609022)
Ramanshu Mahajan (15609025)
Shrey Srivastava (15609093)

DEEP KALRA, Makemytrip.com

Deep went to St.Stephens College, Delhi in 1987 to pursue Bachelors in Economics from
where he went to IIM-A for an MBA Degree. He worked with ABN Amro Bank and as most
of us are, was really excited about his first job. But after 3 years, a sense of incompleteness
set in and he decided banking was not something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Deep
quit ABN Amro and took a break for about a year to figure out what to do next.
While on his break, Deep got a number of well-paying marketing jobs but he decided to pick
the craziest of all. He wanted to do something touch-feel, on-the-ground kind of a thing and
hence he took up the job of bringing AMF Bowling Inc. to India. The task was a herculean
one as no one in India was really ready to invest in a bowling alley in the 90s. Deep went
around from place to place measuring places and setting up bowling alleys but the
competition was just too tough. There were hardly any returns and competing against the
giant chains like McDonalds was proving out to be impossible in terms of returns on real
estate. Deep ran it for four years but decided to quit.
Post AMF, Deep could have started up something else but he felt he needed some more
corporate experience before diving into it. He felt that he was missing out on the learning part
and the self-development part had plateaued after ABN. Looking out for companies, he got a
lucrative offer from GE Capital to head Business Development. The year was 1999 and
looking for opening up new avenues, the internet was the obvious answer. Deep met almost
all the top players in the Indian internet space and helped GE grow via the internet and during
this time, Deep also had a couple of incidents that formed a strong faith in the internet- he
managed to successful sell a car for INR 20k more than what was being offered online and he
was able to book a hotel in Thailand for a trip with his wife and the vacation went off really
well.
And after a little over a year with GE, Deep felt he was ready to take the plunge. Like in the
case of most entrepreneurs, Deep was troubled by the lack of a sense of personal achievement
in corporate jobshe was always spotting new, unexplored opportunities. In 2000, he was
bitten by the internet bug like a million others. But the timing was wrong for fund-raising.
The dotcom bubble burst the next year. So, Deep had two options: start a stock broking firm
that tapped his finance training at IIM and his experience with finance firms, or pursue
something in travel, his real passion. Broking was rejected: he felt most successful stock
broking houses in India were backed by big business houses. Hence, makemytrip.com. But
travel too was not a happening sector at that time, especially using the internet as a medium
to woo clients. So he focused on NRIs.
The real thrust came with the success of IRCTC, which enables booking of rail tickets on the
net. More importantly, IRCTC charged a premium for bookings, and over 60 per cent of the
bookings were for non-air conditioned classes, indicating that it was attracting the masses.
This was enough proof that an online travel portal can attract enough eyeballs, as well as
become profitable. He switched to the Indian market in 2004, when the entry of low-cost
airlines got people to book tickets on the net. The rest, as is said, is history and

makemytrip.com has become one of the largest travel companies with a sales turnover of Rs
550 crore in 2006-07 and a target of Rs 1,200 crore for the current fiscal.

Kalras company is now making $5 million in US dollars of profit this year and doing more
than $500 million in gross bookings. Revenues are up 88% during the recession and one out
of every twelve domestic flights in India is booked via MakeMyTrip.com. After airline
tickets, the second biggest category is railway ticketsthe site sells 2,500 of them every day.
Kalra is busy interviewing a lot of US-trained management types to augment the team. Dont
look now, but MakeMyTrip could be Indias next dot com IPO. (Like most well-behaved
CEOs, Kalra wouldnt comment on any immediate IPO plans.)
Ahead of his time or no, Kalra is glad he took the risk when he did. Hes not sure he would
today even with more money in his savings. Hes also glad he didnt give up on Indias
domestic market, If Id been in Silicon Valley Im convinced we might have reached scale in
half the time, but we also probably would have been obliterated by the competition.

Qualities as an entrepreneur are as follows:

1. Innovative Thinker: In 2000, he was bitten by the internet bug like a million others. But
the timing was wrong for fund-raising. The dotcom bubble burst the next year.
2. Opportunist: Travel was not a happening sector at that time, especially using the internet
as a medium to woo clients. So he focused on NRIs. He switched to the Indian market in
2004, when the entry of low-cost airlines got people to book tickets on the net.
3. Delegator: Deep is busy interviewing a lot of US-trained management types to augment
the team.
4. Determined: He had a choice between stock broking or to pursue travelling his passion.
He chose travelling and never looked back.
5. Educated: He pursued Bachelors in Economics and went to IIM-A for an MBA Degree.
6. Relationship builder: He diversified and renewed networks, reciprocity, understand the
local social landscape of tourism industry globally.
7. Risk Taker : He had a choice between starting a stock broking firm that tapped his finance
training at IIM and his experience with finance firms or to pursue travelling his passion. He
chose travelling and never looked back.
8. Passion and motivation: Travelling was his passion which made him more likely
successful in the tourism industry.
9. Hunger for growth: Deep was troubled by the lack of a sense of personal achievement in
corporate jobshe was always spotting new, unexplored opportunities.