Cleartrip focuses on mobile-based services

Company also looking at expanding its market to some overseas nations

Online travel agent Cleartrip is focusing on attracting customers using the mobile platform for its business growth.

Around 40% of the transactions of Cleartip are happening on mobile and the company is expecting it to go up to 75% in 18 months, said Subramanya Sharma, chief marketing officer of Cleartrip.

"Our focus is on the mobile platform and that is where we are making our major investments, in terms of manpower and attracting customers," he said.

The increase in launch of smart phones under Rs 10,000 a unit has increased the smart phone penetration in the country and the availability of bandwidth at lower cost from the mobile service providers are the reasons for an increased usage of mobile phones for transactions.

Besides, the proliferation of mobile applications, such as the Facebook and Whatsapp, has increased the awareness and usage of applications among more mobile phone users, which also helped penetration of mobile app in the market, he added.

Speaking about the Chennai market, he said that the company has seen more last minute booking of hotels and increased role of low cost air carriers in the city, compared to other cities.

The company is also looking at expanding its market to some of the overseas nations. For instance, it is already present in Saudi Arabia and plans are to further expand its presence there. Similarly, it is also looking at some of the South East Asian countries and South Asian countries for increasing its its market, he said.

The company, with $800 million turnover, has 500 employees, four offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Dubai, in Saudi Arabia. It has presence in seven countries, including India, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia.