Bus operator to enter hospitality
Parveen Travels (P) Ltd., a company that operates 60 inter-city buses across the four southern states, connecting 55 destinations and carrying 2,000 passengers every day, is poised to convert itself from an operator of bus services to a full-fledged hospitality player.
It is planning to set up hotels at three locations in Chennai, and is planning to float a new division for this purpose in 2012-13. The company is in talks with a few private equity funds to mobilise about Rs 150 crore to pay for the diversification.
Parveen Travels recently inducted two Mercedes-Benz multi-axle luxury buses — becoming the first company in India to do so — and is planning to add two more. In January it also established a company called The Torque, for servicing high-end vehicles.
“It was big money for us, and we were worried. But since we had borrowed money from private lenders, it motivated us and kept us on our toes, and the financial pressure helped us to be aggressive,” says Afzal. The company now owns over 700 buses.
Afzal says the company was the first to introduce hi-tech passenger coaches in South India (1993); the first to introduce air-conditioned hi-tech buses in the private sector (1994); and the first in Asia to introduce the concept of booking bus tickets online (2004).
The company operates 70 buses for foreign clients and 500 buses for corporate houses to transport their employees. It also operates elite charters such as ‘conference on wheels’. The company also has a cargo division, a professional consultancy division through which it rents out over 700 drivers, and a restaurant business.