Cleartrip aims for profitability by FY27 end as it cuts back on discounts

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Cleartrip, the online travel agency (OTA) owned by Walmart-backed Flipkart Group, is targeting operational break-even by the end of the current financial year, chief business and growth officer Manjari Singhal told Mint in an interview, as it shifts away from the discount-led growth model the company has relied on in recent years.

“We want to be operationally neutral by the end of this year,” Singhal said. “That’s a hard target that we’ve set for ourselves, and we are confident that we’ll get there.”

The company spent ₹608 crore on discounts and cashback against net revenue of ₹169 crore in FY25, according to financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The company spent ₹102 crore on advertising and promotions, and ₹129 crore on commissions and brokerage during the year. It logged a net loss of ₹651 crore.

“Platforms have to earn margins, but not at the customer’s expense,” Singhal said. “Ultimately, it’s the customer who drives our growth, so that trade-off has to work for both sides.”

Much of that shift has come from an aggressive push beyond air ticketing, which made up 90-95% of Cleartrip’s business as recently as early last year. Non-air categories now account for roughly 22% of bookings, up from single digits a year earlier, even as the air business continues to grow at a ‘healthy rate’, according to Singhal.

This effort comes as competition intensifies with market leader MakeMyTrip considering a domestic listing, while venture-backed challenger Scapia is expanding its app-first, card-linked offerings. The overall OTA market in India is expected to nearly double from ₹2.08 trillion to ₹3.84 trillion by FY28, according to Motilal Oswal Financial Services, despite the brokerage noting ongoing margin pressure across the sector.

In terms of gross bookings, MakeMyTrip leads the OTA market in India among listed players, followed by Ixigo, EasyMyTrip and Yatra, per Motilal Oswal's report.

The company says it now has the second-largest directly contracted domestic hotel supply in India, with 7 lakh hotels listed across more than 2,000 cities, spanning tier I to tier IV towns, as well as overseas.

Cleartrip is set to add alternative accommodation options, such as homestays, villas, and similar listings, from October 2026. On trains, Cleartrip integrated IRCTC bookings roughly two months ago and plans to extend the service to the Flipkart app by September, putting it in front of Flipkart’s monthly active user base of 220-240 million.

Bus booking, previously a marginal part of the business, has also been rebuilt with more than 6 lakh routes now available across over 10,000 towns.

“By volume, trains and buses make up 60-65% of daily bookings,” Singhal said, adding that Cleartrip’s earlier absence from these categories meant it was addressing less than half its potential audience.

Cleartrip was founded in 2006 by Hrush Bhatt and Stuart Crighton and was fully acquired by the Flipkart Group in April 2021.

Rather than compete purely on price, Cleartrip is leaning on premiumisation and ancillary revenue to improve margins.

Cleartrip is working on features to upsell add-ons such as premium economy upgrades and travel insurance, as well as a Cleartrip-branded fare family that bundles flexibility options.

According to Singhal, insurance attachment rates have risen sharply since the product was revamped, while seat and meal upsells have been redesigned with a more visual, e-commerce-style presentation. A loyalty programme built around low-cost date-change options is also set to launch soon.

“Our dependence on discounting has come down, and it will keep coming down,” Singhal noted.

The company is also benefiting from the parent Flipkart’s co-branded credit card partnerships with Axis Bank and State Bank of India. Users on Flipkart’s co-branded card partnerships show roughly 20% higher retention than the average use...