Flipkart Owned Cleartrip’s Loss Widens By 77% To INR 25.3 Cr In FY21

The online travel aggregator Cleartrip which was acquired earlier this year by Walmart-owned Flipkart has widened its loss in FY21. 

The 21-year old online travel aggregator Clearttrip saw its total revenue from operations drop by almost 70%, from INR 273 Cr in FY20 to INR 79 Cr in FY21. The travel giant’s total revenue stood at INR 106 Cr in FY21, a sharp drop from INR 318 Cr in FY20.

Cleartrip witnessed a 77% increase in its loss from INR 14.3 Cr in FY20 to INR 25.3 Cr in FY21. Interestingly, its expenses also dropped from INR 333 Cr in FY20 to INR 131.5 Cr in FY21, a 60% drop. 

The OTA’s employee benefit expenses fell from INR 76.5 Cr in FY20 to INR 32.9 Cr in FY21. In other expenses, the company posted INR 77.3 Cr in FY21 against INR 229.6 Cr in FY20.

Founded in 2006 by Hrush Bhatt, Matthew Spacie and Stuart Crighton, Cleartrip offers a personalised travel experience through its mobile applications and desktop. To date, Cleartrip has raised $56.4 Mn across six funding rounds from six investors. The company last raised funds in a venture round in January 2019.

In April this year, Flipkart acquired 100% shareholding of Cleartrip. As per the agreement, Cleartrip will continue to operate as a separate brand, retaining all employees while working closely with Flipkart.

The company competes against the likes of Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip (MMT) Yatra, recently listed EaseMyTrip, and IPO-bound ixigo. 

As per the industry experts, India’s travel sector is dominated by MMT and GoIbibo, which hold 60% share in the market. The remaining 40% is split between Cleartrip, RailYatra, ixigo, EaseMyTrip, Yatra as well as the likes of Amazon and Paytm, which have travel booking offerings as well.

While, MMT posted revenue of $32.8 Mn in Q1 FY 22, a 416% rise from $6.4 Mn in Q1 FY21, publicly-listed Easy Trip Planner, the parent company of EaseMyTrip posted revenue of INR 57 Cr in Q4 FY21, ending March 2021, a significant rise from INR 31.55 Cr in the same quarter in FY20.

Le Travenues Technology operating ixigo which is waiting for SEBI’s approval for its INR 1,600 Cr IPO posted INR 135.5 Cr in revenue from operations in FY21, a 21.5% rise from INR 111.5 Cr it posted in FY20. Cleartrip managed to drop its expenses to INR 135.6 Cr in FY21 from INR 139.5 Cr in FY20. ixigo posted a profit of INR 7.53 Cr in FY 21, compared to INR 26.6 Cr loss in FY20. 

After being hit adversely by the pandemic, the travel sector in the country as per the Indian Brand Equity Foundation is expected to grow at 6.7% CAGR to reach $488 Bn by 2029 and will contribute to 9.2% of India’s GDP.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.