Deep Kalra is the Founder and Chairman of MakeMyTrip, India's leading online travel platform. Founded in 2000, MakeMyTrip ...
What Deep Kalra said
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Deep Kalra, founder and group chairman of MakeMyTrip, recounted the company's early struggles from 2001 to 2005, when India was not ready to buy online. He emphasized the importance of persistence and a long-distance runner mentality for entrepreneurs. Kalra explained that the initial focus on Indians traveling to India failed, but the US-India business became cash-flow positive, sustaining the company. The tipping point came with low-cost carriers in 2004-2005, which required direct connects. He credited success to focusing on consumer trust, overinvesting in customer service, and hiring good people with autonomy and stock options. Kalra noted that from 2005 to 2010 the company grew 25x and IPO'd in 2010. He also highlighted the culture of fun at work, including cheap offsites like whitewater rafting in Rishikesh.
Key takeaways
Kalra advises entrepreneurs to have stamina for five years and not give up too early, citing MakeMyTrip's dark years from 2001 to 2005.
The US-India business was cash-flow positive with an average ticket of $800-900 and about $100 profit per ticket, sustaining the company.
MakeMyTrip grew 25x from 2005 to 2010 and IPO'd in 2010, with the US-India business now less than half a percent of total.
Over 70% of the team had stock options at IPO, reflecting a culture of giving employees autonomy and upside.
Low-cost carriers in 2004-2005 were the tipping point, as they weren't on GDS, requiring direct connects to aggregate content.
India wasn't ready to buy online from 2001 to 2005. Those were dark years for us. We lived month to month, deciding at the end of each month if we had the stamina to continue. My biggest lesson for young entrepreneurs is: don't give up too early. Also, don't start something unless you have the stamina to go for five years. Come in with the mentality of a long-distance runner.
Thank you for taking the time. I know you're super busy, so I appreciate you speaking with me. For those who may not know, in 2000 you quit a stable corporate job to start an online travel agency, raised $2 million on a napkin, and bet Indians would book travel online when internet penetration was abysmally low. For the next five years, almost no one booked online. You went 18 months without a salary, saw your team shrink, resisted an $8 million buyout offer, and 25 years later, MakeMyTrip processes about $10 billion in gross bookings annually, net revenue near a billion, and has helped 100 million customers. It's one of the few Indian consumer internet companies trading on the NASDAQ. So it's great to have you.
So at the turn of the millennium, you had exposure to the internet through G Capital and wanted to start something online. You considered a few ideas, including online stockbroking. What gave you the conviction that online travel was the one to bet on?
That's a great question. In 2000, internet penetration was very low. I believed the first things to move online would be services, especially those transacted over the phone. Travel was close to my heart, but I also considered stockbroking because you never actually saw your broker—you called them. However, travel had a bigger opportunity to change transparency. Traditionally, travel agents controlled information, showing only what benefitted them. I wanted to shift power to the customer by providing full transparency. That was the thesis. But it took time. In 2000, India wasn't ready to buy online. We initially focused on Indians traveling to India, but within a quarter it was clear that people in India weren't buying online. They used our site to educate themselves and then called offline agents. That changed around 2003-2004 when Indian Railways gave people confidence to use credit cards online. The real tipping point was the advent of low-cost carriers (LCCs) in 2004-2005. Previously, there were only three full-service carriers. LCCs weren't on GDS, so we built direct connects to aggregate content. The dark years from 2001 to 2005 were tough: we faced the dot-com crash, 9/11, and SARS. But metrics were improving—customer acquisition growing, referrals increasing—so we had conviction. Our US-India business was cash-flow positive, which sustained us. We did a management buyout, cut costs, moved to a tiny office, and focused on breaking even. We lived month to month, but the team believed. We received unsolicited angel investments in 2003 and 2004. By 2005, everything changed with LCCs and IRCTC. My biggest lesson: don't give up too early. Come in with a long-distance runner mentality.
Mhm, that really resonates. The thing you said about focusing on metrics and referrals reminds me of Jeff Bezos' shareholder letters during the dot-com crash. He said stock price may be down but metrics were up. Parallel to your situation. Now, I've read almost everything about Amazon—it's one of those companies I admire. So in 2005, you relaunched or refocused on Indian customers. Can you talk through that decision? What metrics gave you confidence that now was the right time?
7 more exchanges in this transcript
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Kalra, D. (2026, May 14). Building MakeMyTrip: Deep Kalra on India’s $10B Online Travel Giant [Interview transcript]. Founders, Firms, & Institutions. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1018471/
MLA
Deep Kalra. "Building MakeMyTrip: Deep Kalra on India’s $10B Online Travel Giant." Founders, Firms, & Institutions, 14 May. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1018471/.
BibTeX
@misc{kalra2026_1018471,
author = {Deep Kalra},
title = {Building MakeMyTrip: Deep Kalra on India’s $10B Online Travel Giant},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Founders, Firms, \& Institutions. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {may},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1018471/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
