GBTA’s spotlight on India

With India predicted to be ranked among the top five business travel markets in the next 15 years, Global Business Travel Association has re-launched its India chapter

From No. 24 in 2000 to the 10th ranked market in the world in 2013, the business travel industry in India has worked its way up the rankings of major global business travel markets, according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Foundation’s first GBTA BTI Outlook-India report. What’s more, WTTC World Economic Report India 2016 predicts that business travel spending will likely see a growth of 8.7 per cent in 2016 to Rs 1,302.9 billion, and rise by 7.2 per cent per annum to Rs. 2,610.3 billion in 2026. To make the most of the gradual but steady growth, GBTA has once again re-established its presence in India, in partnership with business travel management consultancy ProKonsul. Commenting on the decision to re-enter the Indian market,

Gaurav Sundaram, Regional Director India, GBTA states, “India is the 10th largest global business travel market worldwide and is also the fastest growing market. Despite its size and growth, the country still did not have an industry forum which looks at the issues and challenges of business travel in India

which is why GBTA felt the market was right for a reentry. In the course of the next 12 months, we expect to establish a very sound India chapter and anticipate more than 500 GBTA members based out of India,” he shares. Sundaram informs that GBTA has a focused plan for the next few months which includes establishing a strong member base, developing quality educational content and events, and reinstating the leadership that GBTA had earlier. He sheds light on some major events in the pipeline and says, “We will be conducting at least two events this year - one is India Education Day in August where we are inviting several international speakers with 150-200 buyers who will talk about the best practices in business travel. For the first time, we will also have a trade show floor during the India Education Day targeting business travel buyer and suppliers in the industry. Following this, we will be organising another education day in Singapore on the sidelines of ITB Asia in October. It will involve both Indian hosted buyers as well as local buyers from Singapore and the rest of Asia.” Use of technology, approach of travel managers and implementation of the best practices are some of the ways in which the business travel community can leverage and improve their efficiency, feels Sundaram. “A lot of the big companies in India continue to operate in legacy mode where they use call-to-book facilities with travel agents. You can do a lot more if you use the best practices in technology for optimal results. The question is do you want to minimise the fee and compromise operations or offer a fair price and drive optimisation of value?”