Deep Kalra: Travel Booking Made Easy Through MakeMyTrip

makemytrip

Piyush Mishra

Oct 15, 2020 — 6 min read

Work, assignments, and stress. These three words take up significant time in a millennial’s day. And it’s only going to get more hectic. As a result, most of us and not just the millennials yearn for that much needed break. A long trip to Goa or visiting monuments usually does the job of shedding some stress. This itself begs for an answer to how one could reach their destination. How does one avoid trip agents who make profits from your travel plans, leaving with you a lighter wallet?

Luckily, Deep Kalra, an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management has made planning trips easier using his brilliance and ingenuity—MakeMyTrip.

Deep Kalra - Biography

Name	Deep Kalra
Born	Hyderabad
Spouse	Amrita Kalra
Education	St. Columba's School, St Stephen's College, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A)
Known For	Founder of MakeMyTrip
Net Worth	Estimated $136 Million (2020)

Who is Deep Kalra?
Deep Kalra - Education
Deep Kalra - Initial Struggles
Deep Kalra's MakeMyTrip Ideation
The Rise After The Storm - MakeMyTrip
Deep Kalra - Achievements
Deep Kalra as An Inspiration

Who is Deep Kalra?

Deep Kalra is an Indian businessman and Founder of MakeMyTrip. An ambitious and talented man, who has over 27 years of work experience in e-commerce, sales, marketing, corporate banking, financial analysis and senior management roles.

“Tough times teach you the most,” he says

Deep Kalra - Story — Deep Kalra - Founder, MakeMyTrip

He tells budding entrepreneurs to consider life as a marathon. An idol both on and off field, Deep’s life is all about hard work and determination. Deep has been instrumental in making MakeMyTrip India’s number one trip advisor.

Deep Kalra - Education

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, India, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India.

Deep Kalra - Initial Struggles

Deep started with ABN Amro Bank. After serving for three years, he decided to start his own venture, and brought AMF bowling. This was an attempt to launch the ten pin bowling revolution in India, but couldn’t take off. Deep had to go back to the corporate sector and joined GE capital. His work with AMF bowling wasn’t successful because his boss who used to live in the United States did not provide any sort of mentorship. Even after opening 200 lanes, bowling couldn’t strike the right chords with the Indian crowd.

The internet sector was on the rise during the mid-90s and web sites like Yahoo! and Google were touching new heights. Deep Kalra decided to use the internet as a catalyst for a new business.

Deep Kalra's MakeMyTrip Ideation

MakeMyTrip Logo

Deep’s wish was to kick out nosy and stingy travel agents and streamline the travel and holiday planning industry so that travelers found it easier to plan cost effective trips. After a backing of 2 million USD from eVentures and co-founders like Keyur Joshi, Rajesh Magow and Sachin Bhatia, he launched one of the most popular websites in today’s time—MakeMyTrip.

Exploration and wanderlust are on every person’s bucket list. The thrill and excitement of venturing beyond one’s nest is what nearly each one of us longs for. With the introduction of MakeMyTrip, these yearnings have become a reality. Initially the MakeMyTrip team chose to serve only India-United States trips. But destiny had other plans as the dotcom bubble burst two days after MakeMyTrip began operations; the team lost its funding in entirety. The situation was so bad that Deep had to cut down his team size by half and reduce the renumeration of executives in his company by half as well.

The Rise After The Storm - MakeMyTrip

MakeMyTrip was one of the few companies to survive the bubble bust. Later, there was a steady rise in the marketing value of MakeMyTrip. Deep and MakeMyTrip’s breakthrough came after IRCTC enabled online booking of tickets. This meant MakeMyTrip’s business model concurring with IRCTC’s plans. The outcome from this new way of business raked in profits for the company, and Deep decided to widen his portfolio and his brand began to offer trip services across India. The tie-up with IRCTC worked wonders.

This boosted the company’s popularity and the number of daily visitors accessing MakeMyTrip’s website increased dramatically. Every 1 in 12 flight tickets was now booked from MakeMyTrip! With an army of 2,000,000 customers, they crossed the 1000 crore INR mark in the year 2008. In the same year, the company recorded profits of 5 million USD. A major turnover for a company that had faced the wrath of the dotcom crash. This established Deep Kalra and his team as entrepreneurs.

Perhaps, MakeMyTrip’s biggest achievement was its listing in NASDAQ in 2010. This blew off its competitors and made it a top gun.

Under Deep’s leadership, the bridge between the Indian and the U.S. stock exchange narrowed. This is no easy feat and commends respect!

Deep Kalra - Achievements

Member of the Executive council of NASSCOM.
His company (MakeMyTrip) was recognized as the “Best Travel Portal India” by World Travel Awards in 2013 and 2014.
Listed as “The Best Companies to Work For” by Great Place to Work Institute during 2010, 2011, 2012,2013.
Deep Kalra is also a member of CII’s sub tourism committee.
He is the chairperson of NASSCOM Internet Working Group.
Deep Kalra's net worth is estimated around $136 Million as of 2020

Deep Kalra as An Inspiration

Deep Karla shows how to navigate through tough times. His education credentials coupled with his achievements have established him as a success story who brought a change in India. Recovering from any drastic event at a global scale is no piece of cake, requiring meticulous planning, strategy, execution and some luck. MakeMyTrip was able to do it. After IRCTC brought the online services, Deep made the best out of the opportunity at hand. MakeMyTrip has a current market cap of more than 2 billion USD. Deep Kalra’s name shall be embellished in gold on the list of India’s prominent entrepreneurs!