India is world's 10th largest business travel market

India has emerged as the 10th-largest business travel market in the world, spending a total of $22.1 billion. This is expected to grow by 13.5 per cent year-on-year, as indicated by a recent survey. 

The study has found a rationale for this trend: Despite the rise of digital communication and virtual conferences, Indian enterprises still rely heavily on face-to-face contact, necessitating business travel. 

Eight out of 10 executives surveyed said their people travel once a week (24 per cent), once a fortnight (32 per cent) or once a month (24 per cent). The study, “CFO Innovation Asia”, was commissioned by Concur Technologies on the state of travel and expenses in Indian organisations. 

In general, more than 50 people across all functions in an organisation were found to travel for business purposes in domestic and international markets. 

The survey also analysed the companies’ spending on these trips. The results were revealing: In 9 per cent of the organisations, the travel budget accounted for over 10 per cent of the total revenues. 

A relatively large proportion of the firms—28 per cent—allocate more than 4 per cent of their annual revenue to travel and associated expenses. Use of smartphones among business travellers was found to be extremely high. 

Half the respondents indicated that at least 75 per cent travellers from their organisation operated a smartphone during their trips. Mobile applications, such as Concur’s own free mobile app TripIt, were seen as a tool helping the Indian traveller manage his/her trip.  

The app claims to automatically deliver all the relevant content for travellers, such as flight, hotel and car-hire information, and synchronises that with an expense management system linked to the organisation.