Adani Group picks up stake in Cleartrip

Bengaluru: The Adani Group has acquired a significant minority stake in Flipkart-owned travel app Cleartrip, giving India's biggest airports operator a foothold in the fast-growing online travel space.

The development comes just months after the group inked a strategic partnership with Walmart-owned Flipkart for a logistics hub and a data centre.

As a part of the investment, Cleartrip will serve as the group's online travel agency partner, Adani Enterprises said in a stock exchange filing late on Friday.


According to Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, the investment is an 'essential part' of its broader SuperApp plans.

Neither of the companies disclosed the size of the investment and the quantum of stake that Adani Group would receive in Cleartrip.

The transaction is likely to close next month, subject to regulatory approvals.

Adani Group's increased focus on the new economy comes at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital adoption in the country, with other conglomerates such as Reliance Industries and the Tata Group also increasing their investments in new-age companies. The Tatas are also building their own SuperApp.

Through this investment, the Adani Group and the Flipkart Group will benefit from synergies that will deliver superior travel experiences to consumers as the travel industry in the country sees a resurgence, the companies said in a statement.

In April, a few days before Flipkart acquired Cleartrip, the Adani Group had said that a fulfilment centre built by it in Mumbai would be leased to Flipkart as part of its partnership with the homegrown e-commerce marketplace, while a data centre is expected to come up at AdaniConnecX's facility in Chennai.

"Since the acquisition by the Flipkart Group, Cleartrip has seen 10 times growth in flight bookings. Also, trends observed by Adani airports indicate that the number of passengers at airports has increased, reaching close to pre-Covid-19 highs," according to the statement on Friday. "This partnership will further enable Cleartrip to transcend digital boundaries and bring end-to-end travel services online."

Earlier this month, Walmart-owned Flipkart appointed fashion portal Myntra's senior executive Ayyappan R as Cleartrip's CEO, in a big restructuring move, ET reported. "We have a strongly developing relationship with Flipkart that spans multiple dimensions, including data centres, fulfilment centres and now air travel," Adani said. "It is such strategic partnerships among homegrown companies which will eventually create local jobs as well as an Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India)."

The collaboration with the Adani Group in areas such as travel-related products, loyalty programs and other value-added services is expected to help Cleartrip provide consumers with a seamless travel experience and further accelerate its growth, according to the joint statement.