Nandan Nilekani-backed bus mobility platform IntrCity Smartbus has seen its growth jump nearly six times cent in the last two years to Rs 290 crore in FY23 on the back of post-covid sustained demand for inter-city travel, said Kapil Raizada co-founder IntrCity.
The growth also comes on the back of the company’s penetration into newer states post-pandemic and presently operates in about 12 states. In 2021, Intercity also acquired the telematics and in-bus application platform SmartBus and owns the train ticket booking platform RailYatri.
“We are about six times the size of what we were before the pandemic. In 2020-2021 we have grown north of 600 percent. The pandemic had two impacts, it helped create more awareness of the quality of travel and the second is it definitely accelerated online booking. This is still driving demand for us,” Raizada said.
InterCity presently ferries around two lakh passengers a day, across 40 routes a day. The firm has a market share of 20 percent and is mostly dominated by various unorganized bus fleet operators in different states.
“Our goal is to have a steady growth of about 30-40 percent every year…next year we want to be in the range of Rs 400 crore in revenue and continue to be profitable and increase our market share by serving 3-4 lakhs bus passengers on a daily basis,” Raizada said.
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IntrCity railYatri was launched in 2011 and the InterCity Smartbus was launched in 2019 by Manish Rathi and Raizada. The firm in 2020 raised around Ra 100 crore to launch luxury bus services led by Nandan Nilekani and Samsung Venture Investment and with participation from Omidyar Network and Blume Ventures.
Focus on quality
“There are three deal-breaker in the bus industry and we are trying to solve that. First is not having washrooms inside the vehicle so we set up washrooms inside the busses, we wanted to ensure the that there are safe boarding places, as there is a lack of trail crew and how it breaks experiences so we created bus captains,” Raizada said.
The firm has set up boarding lounges across various bus stations in cities to track the buses and rest before boarding.
“We were very close to profitability last year and we are a profitable company this year…we don’t really burn capital on marketing or giving huge discounts. We focus on standard, safe, reliable, and punctual, and our customers come back,” Raizada said.
Integrating AI into IntrCity’s operations
The firm is deploying software and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology inside its operations to get more data on customer satisfaction, driver efficiency, and crew response.
“There is a lot of work happening within the platform on improving customer experience…We have installed a fatigue monitoring device which gives real-time data on driver’s efficiency which will improve the safety aspect of drivers throughout the trip,” Raizada said.
IntrCity’s busses are also cloud-connected which means that tracking for a consumer is easier, and verification checks are made before the bus starts.
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EV goals for IntrCity
IntrCity has charted plans on onboarding EV buses and is discussing with OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). However, it is waiting to find the right product for its needs.
“We are exploring bringing EVs into our operation however the busses in the market today are built for intra-city travel and not yet fully ready for inter-city and charging infra needs development,” Raizada said.
Intercity is in touch with OEMs like JBM, Olectra, Tata Motors, and Switch Mobility for EV buses.
Outlook
The mobility player was looking to raise funds of around $20-30 million to fuel its growth plans and is in conversation with investors.
“Our fundraise was mostly connected to us bringing more EVs. But we are very much profitable now and given that the EV plans are taking a little bit more time we are timing the funding plans accordingly. However, we are in conversation with investors,” Raizada said.
IntrCity plans to enter new states in the next two years.
“We have a very strong presence in 12 states we want to immediately enter Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra…works are happening and we will enter in the next two years,” Raizada said.
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