Paytm sees regional language users driving travel business growth
.jpg)
Paytm Travel, the digital arm of payment and wallet company Paytm for booking online travel tickets is looking at regional language users in tier-II and tier-III cities to drive growth ahead. The travel business has 13 million customers, up from 9 million last year, said Paytm’s Vice President and head of Paytm Travel Abhishek Ranjan told Financial Express Online.
“The maximum growth will come from regional languages hopefully going forward with Paytm’s increasing penetration in tier-II and tier-III cities. The next set of users coming online are from regions where they are comfortable in their native languages. So the use of regional language will become higher than what it is today,” said Ranjan.
Back in 2014, online travel company MakeMyTrip, which competes with Paytm Travel apart from Yatra, Goibibo, etc., had reportedly introduced train booking service in five regional languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Gujarati.
Ranjan claimed around 75 per cent growth in the use of regional languages from tier-II cities for booking travel tickets while from tier-III cities it is more than 100 per cent. The existing 13 million users are part of more than 300 million registered users that Paytm has.
“There is a huge unaddressed market that is looking to consume content in their regional language. We have a strong focus on enabling more such service for users to book travel tickets,” said Ranjan.
For instance, Paytm Travel is exploring voice-based search feature initially for train tickets booking since the company sees “a larger share of users preferring to use vernacular language to book tickets.”
Users booking tickets, for example, type Delhi ‘se’ Patna while searching. “That’s because users are thinking in their local language only. Hence, we foresee a scenario ahead where 50 per cent of our transactions would be coming from users transacting in regional languages,” Ranjan added without disclosing the transaction volume.
India had 234 million non-English language internet users in 2016 while 175 million were English users, as per a 2017 report by Google and KPMG India.
Paytm, in January this year had acquired last-minute premium hotel booking startup NightStay to further strengthen its hotel booking service.
India’s online travel market is expected to grow to $13.6-billion size by 2021, said a report by consulting firm Praxis Global last year.
Other Latest News
.webp)
A total subsidy of Rs 56,993 crore is given every year by the Indian Railways to all categories of passengers, with a 46 per cent rebate on every ticket, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
Replying to multiple questions in the Lok Sabha on restoring discounts given to various categories of train passengers, he said if the price of a ticket is Rs 100, then the railways charges just Rs 54 for it -- a discount of 46 per cent.
.webp)
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann strongly condemned the attack on Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was fired at while performing 'sewa' outside the Golden Temple on Wednesday morning, and directed police to investigate the incident.
The chief minister also lauded the promptness of the Punjab Police in nabbing the attacker.
.webp)
Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led central government after three members of a family were found dead at their home in the national capital.
Describing the incident as "extremely painful and frightening," the AAP convener accused the Centre of allowing criminals a free hand and failing to ensure law and order in the capital.
.webp)
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is all set to return as Maharashtra’s chief minister for a historic third term, following a critical consensus reached during the BJP core committee meeting on Wednesday. The decision, which ended days of suspense, cements Fadnavis’s leadership at the helm of Maharashtra’s new government.
The proposal for Fadnavis's appointment was made by former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was appointed as the party’s observer for the Maharashtra legislature meeting.
.webp)
Leaders of several INDIA bloc parties protested on the Parliament premises on Wednesday over the Adani indictment issue and called for a joint parliamentary probe into the matter.
MPs of the Congress, AAP, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT), DMK and the Left parties, among others, raised slogans in favour of their demand and held a banner reading "Modi-Adani are one" at Parliament's Makar Dwar. The TMC kept away from the opposition protest.
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
