Deep Kalra and MakeMyTrip: Booking a New India
In the late 1990s, booking travel in India was a headache. Endless phone calls, unreliable agents, and confusing prices made even simple trips stressful. While many accepted this chaos, Deep Kalra saw an opportunity hidden inside the problem.
After working in consulting and understanding how global travel worked, Deep asked a simple question. Why can booking a flight or hotel not be easy for Indians too? That question led to the birth of MakeMyTrip in 2000, at a time when internet usage in India was still in its infancy.
The early days were brutal. Online payments were rare, trust in digital platforms was low, and travel was hit hard after the dot com crash and global events. Many doubted whether an online travel company could survive in India at all. But Deep believed that the future was inevitable. India would go online, and travel would follow.
MakeMyTrip focused on one thing above all else: trust. Clear pricing, reliable bookings, and strong customer support slowly changed how Indians planned their journeys. When smartphones arrived, MakeMyTrip was ready. From flights and hotels to buses, trains, and holiday packages, it became a one stop solution for travel.
In 2010, MakeMyTrip became one of the first Indian internet companies to list on NASDAQ. It was a landmark moment that proved Indian startups could compete on the global stage.
Deep Kalra’s journey shows that timing matters, but conviction matters more. Building for the future requires patience, resilience, and the courage to believe before the world does.
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