Ashish Hemrajani: Crafting a New Era for Entertainment in India with BookMyShow
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Ashish Hemrajani is an Indian Entrepreneur who founded India's number 1 online ticket-booking platform BookMyShow for concerts, movies, plays, sports, and live events. He is the founder and Chief Executive officer (CEO) of BookMyShow. In 1999, he launched Bigtree Entertainment, the parent company that owns the online ticket-booking venture BookMyShow.
Ashish Hemrajani - Biography
| Name | Ashish Hemrajani |
|---|---|
| Born | 1975 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Hometown | Mumbai, India |
| Education | Mithibai College, Mumbai, College of Commerce and Economics, Syndenham |
| Profession | Entrepreneur, Businessman |
| Position | Founder & CEO of BookMyShow |
| Net Worth | INR 3000 crore |
| Marital Status | Married |
Ashish Hemrajani - Personal Life & Family
Ashish Hemrajani - Education
Ashish Hemrajani - Professional Life
Ashish Hemrajani - Success Story
Ashish Hemrajani - Bigtree Entertainment
Ashish Hemrajani - BookMyShow
Ashish Hemrajani - Controversy
Ashish Hemrajani - Awards
Ashish Hemrajani - Personal Life & Family
Ashish resides in Mumbai with his family since childhood. He was born to a wealthy family. His parents are really proud of him as he knew how to use his time effectively. They accorded that Ashish has been a disciplined, smart and hardworking person since childhood. Though he is not frank enough to display his personal life publicly through social media. He is now married and he gives all the credit to his family, wife and friends who helped and encouraged him throughout.
Ashish Hemrajani - Education
He did his schooling from Maneckji Cooper Education Trust, Mumbai. He pursued graduation from Mithbai College, Juhu. Later, he pursued MBA specialized in Marketing from College of Commerce and Economics, Syndenham. He received his masters degree in 1997. The college was distantly located from his house, around 30km distance.
Ashish Hemrajani - Professional Life
After completing MBA, he started his career working with the J. Walter Thompson company. He was responsible for account management and client management of the company. He went for a vacation to South Africa with his friends. He was motivated enough to start his own bussiness. Later, he founded a company Bigtree Entertainment in 1999. The company later launched its portal BookMyShow for booking tickets online.
Devashish Shrivastava
Ashish Hemrajani - Success Story
The idea of making an online ticket booking venture originated when he was listening to a radio program about Rugby ticket promotion. At that very time, an idea struck into his mind and he started investing his time and effort to build an online ticket booking services in India. He convinced two of his friends to quit their current job and help him in making his dream project a success in India. At that time, he was 24 and both his friends agreed to help him in his startup. In 1999, all three friends, Parikshit Dar, Rajesh Balpande and Ashish Hemrajani founded the company, Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. The company faced many ups and downs, but Ashish as the CEO of the company stood against all the 0dds, until his venture escorted favorable outcomes. Multiplexes, a New Zealand based software company developed the first ticket selling software of BookMyShow. Bigtree Entertainment further launched BookMyShow, which started selling movie tickets through telephone and internet since 1999. There were no online payment systems available at that time in India. Thus the tickets were delivered to nearby places.
Ashish Hemrajani - Bigtree Entertainment
After the launch of Bigtree Entertainment, the company did not grew instantly but it has received admiration from the people gradually. The struggle phase of the company longed for years. This is because of the website based business globally and people were not familiar enough with the internet those days. Eventually the number of employees were reduced to be safe from the certainty of severe financial crisis. Ashish had a bumpy ride at the company but the phase passed gradually. He had a belief that the power of the internet would come one day and his idea will be applauded some day.
The company entered the pleasant phase when it has received its first investment of Rs.2.5 Crore from J.P Morgan which ascribed the company to grow. The company started selling tickets for multiplex companies in India.
Jeenal Jain
Ashish Hemrajani - BookMyShow
On February 21, 2017, the parent company, Bigtree Entertainment officially launched BookMyShow.com and quickly expanded its operations to sell tickets online for movies, sports, events, concerts, etc. Though it was a tough time to gain online presence, Ashish managed to hold his patience with sincere efforts. BookMyShow also provided the feature to buy tickets of sports matches like IPL, ISL, etc.
With the increase in the use of credit and debit cards, the growth in multiplex was thriving. The tickets were readily available at BookMyShow. People used the website and mobile application of BookMyShow to buy tickets conveniently. The online ticketing platform has erased the problem of longing for your turn while standing in the queue.
The company has expanded its ventures in foreign countries as well. The net worth of BookMyShow counts to Rs 3000 crore today. In 2017, BookMyShow made a deal with PVR worth Rs 1000 crore to sell the unsold tickets online. This deal helped them in engrossing profits and attention. The company now employs over 400 people in offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore.
BookMyShow has launched BookMyShow Stream on February 5, 2021. It will serve as an online platform to watch movies under the Transaction Video-on-Demand (TVOD) model, which will help the company keep pace with the latest movie releases and also aid in their battle against the coronavirus woes.
On June 10, 2021, BookMyShow had to lay off 200 employees due to the second wave of the COVID-19-induced lockdown, which has further hit the company, compelling it to take such a step. Ashish Hemrajani has expressed his grief on parting from these employees on his Twitter handle and is also seeking outplacement for all of them.
COVID19 has taught me many lessons & I learnt another one today. As we let go of 200 of the most incredibility talented & performance driven individuals, each & everyone has messaged, thanking me for the opportunity, the love for @bookmyshow and asking me if they could help (1/4)
— ashish hemrajani (@fafsters) June 10, 2021
Shubham Kumar
Ashish Hemrajani - Controversy
The authorities are investigating BookMyShow for allegedly helping with illegal ticket resales of the Coldplay concert scheduled for January 18, 19, and 21 of 2025 in Navi Mumbai, India.
Ashish Hemrajani, and technical head have been called in by the Mumbai Police after tickets that cost INR 2,500 were being sold for up to INR 3 lakh. A lawyer filed a complaint saying this was a fraud. The police are looking into it, as reselling tickets for higher prices is against the Maharashtra Entertainment Act.
In response, the police filed an FIR based on BookMyShow’s complaint, which names 30 suspects involved in selling fake tickets or reselling them at inflated prices, including individuals and websites like Viagogo. The FIR was filed by Pooja Mitra, the legal manager at BookMyShow, part of Big Tree Entertainment.
Ashish Hemrajani - Awards
Ashish Hemrajani won the esteemed "Executive of the Year 2018" at The Ticketing Business Awards held at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, England. The award is the recognition of his progressive and visionary leadership, which has changed the history of booking tickets.
Ashish won the prestigious BW Applause Person of The Year Award in 2019 for his outstanding contribution in the events and experiential domain in the 2nd edition of the award ceremony conducted at the Eros Hotel, New Delhi.
FAQs
Who is Ashish Hemrajani?
Ashish Hemrajani is the founder and CEO of BookMyShow.
What is Ashish Hemrajani age?
Ashish Hemrajani is 45 years of age. He was born in 1975.
What is Ashish Hemrajani education?
Ashish Hemrajani pursued graduation from Mithbai College, Mumbai. Later, he pursued MBA specialized in Marketing from College of Commerce and Economics, Syndenham.
Who is Ashish Hemrajani wife?
Nilima Hemrajani is the wife of Ashish Hemrajani.
What is Ashish Hemrajani net worth?
BookMyShow founder, Ashish Hemrajani net worth is INR 3000 crore (2024).
Who is BookMyShow Owner?
Bigtree Entertainment is the owner of BookMyShow.
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