MakeMyTrip partners with Flipkart for travel bookings

By Aditi Shah

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Online travel portal MakeMyTrip Ltd has formed a partnership with Flipkart to allow customers to book domestic flight tickets and other travel services directly through the e-commerce firm's portal.

The partnership will start with domestic flight bookings in the next few weeks, followed by hotels, bus and holiday bookings, the two companies said in a statement on Thursday.

The deal will help Flipkart Online Services Pvt Ltd widen the gamut of services it offers, and further its goal of being "a one-stop destination for all digital transactions online," Flipkart Chief Executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy said in the statement.

The companies did not disclose details about the partnership's revenue model.

The partnership comes at a time when competition in India's e-commerce market is increasing with firms such as Flipkart, Amazon.com Inc and Paytm E-Commerce Pvt Ltd adding services.

Amazon has made a number of moves this year to attract more customers to its website and subscribe to its Prime customer loyalty plan that offers faster deliveries, access to early deals and subscription to video and music streaming.

In March, Amazon said it was looking to expand the video content it offers and in February it launched a music streaming service in the country.

Earlier this month, Paytm E-Commerce, which operates online shopping portal Paytm Mall, raised $445 million from Japan's SoftBank Group Corp and China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to enhance its technology and develop superior logistics systems.

The introduction of travel services via Flipkart follows a similar move in 2016 by Paytm, India's biggest digital wallet service, where customers can book flights and rail tickets through its portal.

The deal will give MakeMyTrip access to Flipkart's large consumer base and "further open up the online travel market in a significant way," MakeMyTrip Chief Executive Officer Deep Kalra said in the statement.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Euan Rocha and Christopher Cushing)