India’s Easy Trip loses booking war with MakeMyTrip in key holiday quarter

India’s travel industry is thriving, with demand for air, road and rail travel as well as for hotels booming fuelled by rising disposable incomes. But online travel aggregators are locked in a battle to win customers, with analysts saying that MakeMyTrip has lower charges and better service.

The Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip posted its highest-ever quarterly gross bookings, revenue and profit for the October-December period on robust demand for leisure travel.

On the other hand, Easy Trip’s gross booking revenue — the total value of bookings before accounting for fees and charges — declined nearly 11% for the same period. About 90% of its bookings are for flights.

Its net profit rose about 10% to 456.6 million rupees in the quarter, while its net profit margins fell to 27.6% from 29.8%.

The company said it is looking to boost its presence in the non-air travel business for which it took a 13% stake in a hotel company.

On similar lines, MakeMyTrip said it had taken a majority…