TQ3 all set to step up its presence in India

Company plans to branch out to centres like Kolkata, Baroda, Pune, Chandigarh & Kochi

TQ3 Travel Solutions, a $11-billion travel management company with its presence in 80 countries, is ramping up its presence in India.

The company is planning to branch out to centres like Kolkata, Baroda, Pune, Chandigarh and Kochi, where it already caters to a few SMEs. This move could ultimately lead to the setting up of a back office for processing-related functions.

Ajay Bali, chief executive officer of TQ3 Travel Solutions, said: "We could add back-end process work to the Indian operations only after netting critical numbers. As of now, we are looking at expanding to 12 cities from the existing five. This would eventually treble revenues to $90 million and the workforce to 300 by 2005-06," he said.

"The Indian operations were growing at a healthy 30 per cent, compared to the industry growth of seven per cent," he added.

Industry watchers put the Indian corporate travel industry at about 45 per cent of the $7 billion Indian travel industry.

TQ3 India, a partnership venture between TQ3 Travel Solutions and ETI Travel Solutions, has 200 clients on its roll at present, with 50 per cent of them coming from the SMEs segment.

Bali said that while its MNC clients average $2-3 million a year revenue, Indian SMEs' annual travel spend with it averages under $1million.

With the commissions on air ticketing falling from seven to five per cent, the total solution-based transaction fees would be way forward and TQ3 planned to leverage on its technology infrastructure to achieve that, officials said.