Paytm's travel marketplace inching closer to dominating travel sector

With over ten million travel tickets booked, online payments and ecommerce marketplace Paytm is fast becoming the preferred destination for travellers to plan their trips.

Paytm now offers the complete range of travel bookings that include air, bus, train tickets and hotel bookings. The company has also emerged as India's biggest private B2C player in train tickets segment within months of launch.

In January 2017, the company's travel vertical crossed USD 500 Million in annualised GMV. Paytm is aiming to quadruple the growth rate by the end of the current financial year.

"We are encouraged by the positive response to our foray into the travel business, particularly in the train and air ticket segments which were launched only towards the end of 2016. This year we plan to further accelerate our growth and firmly establish ourselves as a dominant player in the online travel market," said Abhishek Rajan, Vice President, Paytm.

"To catalyse our growth, we are currently ramping up our team in Bangalore and looking to hire over 100 members across Technology, Operations and Business functions," added Rajan.

Paytm is the first horizontal e-commerce major to enter into travel operations, a domain that has hitherto been dominated by vertical players. The company has chosen Bengaluru as the base of operations for its travel marketplace.