Indian Government has decided to enter the bus ticketing domain, and intensify competition in this segment. Biggies such redBus will definitely be watching this development closely.
Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Mr. Oscar Fernandez will launch India’s first integrated National Transport Portal: BusIndia.com today on October 31, 2013 at Constitution Club, New Delhi. Here is the official invitation of the launch.
The portal has been developed by Radiant Info, which is an IT Solutions company based in Bangalore. As per the website, the service was started in February, 2013.
Radiant Info: Largest Bus Ticket Seller in India?
Relatively unknown in media and advertising world, Radiant Info is an experienced player in IT & Software development industry. They claim to have delivered over 11 crore bus tickets as of now, totaling revenues of Rs 3600 crore since 2006.
This easily makes them the largest bus ticket seller in India.
Radiant Info has partnered with State Transport Corporation of various states such as Karnataka (KSRTCT) ; Tamil Nadu (TNSTC) ; Gujarat (GSRTC) and more. In the websites of these state transport corporations, we can see that they are all powered by technology and solutions provided by Radiant Info (look at bottom right or left part, near footer)
BusIndia.com would integrate the bus ticketing platform of regional state transport corporations, and provide them under one single umbrella. For example, Odisha State Road Transport Corporation’s website OSRTC.in is now being redirected to BusIndia’s Odisha page.
The existing inventory of state transport bus tickets which are available on BusIndia.com includes: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC)—NWKRTC, NEKRTC and BMTC; Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Limited (TNSTC)—SETC, TNSTC (Madurai), TNSTC (Kumbakonam), TNSTC (Villupuram), TNSTC (Coimbatore) and TNSTC (Salem); Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC); Punjab—PEPSU Road Transport Corporation, Patiala, and PUNBUS; Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC); Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC); and Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC).
Some of the state transports which are about to be included in this portal includes: Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC); Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSRTC); and Kadamba Transport Corporation, Government of Goa.
Radiant also delivers Transport and Logistics solutions by developing the backend platform and implementing them across the offices and point of sales. Here is a list of all clients served by Radiant Info.
There has been speculations that this company is about to get funded by Private Equity (PE). Reportedly, they are seeking Rs 200 crore funding for expansion and technological development.
Threat to redBus & Others?
redBus was recently acquired for Rs 800 crore, a deal which is being hailed as India’s first major Internet success story. And this recent development will be definitely affecting redBus’s core strategy and future vision.
State Transports constitute one big chunk of overall bus bookings, and by launching a National portal which integrates different state platforms into one, Indian Government is all set to capture the market. It can dilute redBus’s domination in the segment, and can have negative effect on its growth trajectory.
It would be interesting to observe how private players counter this new initiative by Indian Government.
Better services? Cheap tickets? Or something more? Do share your views!
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