Owners of Make My Trip will take zero salary as a cost cutting measure

With the aim of doing their bit during these tough times, Deep Kalra, chairman, MakeMyTrip, and Rajesh Magow, CEO, have offered to give up their salaries. In the recent release of the Indian online travel company, the two said, “On the people costs front, both of us will take the lead and take zero salary, effective April 2020, while the rest of our leadership team have  offered to take a reduction of approximately 50 per cent in their compensation.”

The move is a sincere step towards curbing unnecessary spending and is a part of the plan to undertake multiple tough measures to keep overall expenses at a minimum. “Being an online company, the majority of our costs are variable. However, the situation demands that we take a hard look at all our fixed costs including people costs,” assert the owners in their official statement.

With the sudden loss of bookings on the platform owing to this fatal outbreak, followed by the restrictions on domestic air/rail/bus travel, the travel industry has been brought to a virtual standstill.

The Nasdaq-listed firm pointed out that in addition to this step, it will also continue to sharply reduce variable expenses on aspects, such as advertising, sales promotions and payment gateway costs, along with optimising IT infrastructure and expenses related to the functioning of their offices and other establishments. “We will immediately cancel all discretionary spends, such as events, trainings, and so on, and also suspend brand-building expenses during the following quarter.”

These developments follow a record October-December quarter for MakeMyTrip, when its gross bookings jumped 19 per cent to $1.7 billion, while losses also halved to $11 million. Unfortunately, ever since late February, the Company has been witnessing a fall in bookings, especially for the busy summer holiday season.