Cost control helps EaseMyTrip double net profits in pandemic year

Despite travel and tourism being one of the worst affected sectors, New Delhi-based online travel company EaseMyTrip nearly doubled its profits during the pandemic year as it managed to keep costs down. 

Easy Trip Planners Limited, which rolled out an initial public offering (IPO) in March, saw its profits grow to Rs 61.4 crore in the financial year 2021 as against a net profit of Rs 33 crore in FY20. The company recorded a net profit of Rs 30.5 crore in the fourth quarter of the fiscal, marking over an 8-fold increase from profits of Rs 3.6 crore in the same period last fiscal, the company said in a statement.

The profits come amid gross booking revenue dropping to half of what it earned in the previous year. Gross booking reduced 49% to Rs 2128.4 crore in FY21 from Rs 4204.7 core previous year due to national lockdown and curtained travel both domestically and internationally.
 
According to the company, increase in margin and commissions; reduction in operational expenses including reduction in discounts, marketing and sales promotion and employee expenses as well as gains from cutbacks in payment charges helped it to increase profitability despite lower income. The travel portal managed to bring down its total expenditure 50% to Rs 67.4 crore in FY21 from Rs 135 crore in the previous fiscal. On a quarterly basis, expenses dropped to Rs 27.2 crore in Q4 FY21 from Rs 35 crore in the year-ago period.
 
EaseMyTrip said it witnessed a V-shaped recovery in the fourth quarter as it made almost 89% of gross booking revenue of the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal. Consequently, EaseMyTrip clocked in gross booking revenue of Rs 907.6 crore in the Q4 of FY21 as opposed to Rs 1024.9 crore in Q4 of FY20. Total income for the reporting fiscal stood at Rs 151 crore as against Rs 181 crore in the previous fiscal. Total income jumped to Rs 69.3 crore in Q4 this fiscal from Rs 40.4 crore in the corresponding period previous fiscal.
 
Cash flow from operations increased to Rs. 73.8 crore in FY21 from Rs. 27.5 crore in FY20.

“Despite the challenges faced due to the pandemic, EaseMyTrip recorded its highest ever profitability in FY2021.  This was possible due to increased commission from airlines, increase in operational efficiencies and our model of working on lean cost of operations. We have battled the headwinds of the Covid-19 pandemic and returned with strong profitability due to our lean cost structure and our ability to economize further without losing out on the revenue pie,” Prashant Pitti, co-founder and executive director, said.

Founded by Prashant Pitt, Nishant Pitti and Rikant Pitti, EaseMyTrip offers a range of travel-related products and services for end-to-end travel solutions, including airline tickets, hotels and holiday packages, rail tickets, bus tickets and taxis as well as ancillary value added services such as travel insurance, visa processing and tickets for activities and attractions. 

 As of December 31, 2020, the company claims to have provided its customers with access to more than 400 international and domestic airlines and over 11 lakh hotels with a network of 59,274 registered travel agents in India.