Ebix Travels Sees 40% of Corporate Bookings Linked to Smaller Cities in H1 FY26

Smaller cities accounted for 40% of Ebix Travels’ corporate bookings during H1 FY26, with bookings originating from or routed to emerging business centres across India. Cities including Surat, Indore and Vijayawada have witnessed increased corporate travel activity, alongside other business centres such as Nagpur.

The trend reflects the expansion of manufacturing, infrastructure, technology and services businesses beyond traditional metropolitan hubs, creating new requirements for business travel across an increasingly diverse range of destinations.

Corporate Travel Gains Momentum in Emerging Markets

India’s corporate travel market is expected to grow by approximately 11–12% in FY26, supported by business expansion, manufacturing activity, improving regional connectivity and the development of corporate corridors beyond traditional metropolitan centres.

The wider industry is experiencing a similar shift, with nearly 60% of corporate bookings in H1 FY26 reportedly linked to non-metro routes. The growing contribution of these routes reflects the increasing movement of businesses and professionals between established corporate hubs and emerging commercial centres.

Business Expansion Creates New Travel Demand

The expansion of corporate activity is being supported by manufacturing units, project offices, technology operations, distribution networks and service centres established across different locations.

This growth is generating travel requirements for employees, managers, suppliers, consultants and clients. Business journeys increasingly connect corporate centres with factories, construction sites, regional offices, warehouses, customer locations and project sites.

The resulting demand spans flights, hotel stays, rail journeys and ground transportation, adding greater variety to corporate travel requirements.

Technology Supporting Corporate Travel Management

As enterprises manage travel across a broader range of locations, maintaining visibility over employee travel, spending, compliance and travel policies becomes increasingly important. Travellers also expect convenient options and support throughout their journeys.

Ebix Travels’ technology-led corporate travel offering is aligned with these requirements, helping businesses manage travel while providing organisations with greater oversight of corporate mobility.

Ebix’s Travel & Mobility portfolio includes capabilities across Corporate and B2B Travel, Travel Booking Technology, Travel Distribution and Ticketing Aggregation. Its Travel & Mobility Exchange supports access to NDC and airline-direct content, shopping and booking across channels, as well as ticketing, fulfilment and payments at scale.

Zillious, one of Ebix’s flagship Travel & Mobility solutions, provides an end-to-end travel technology suite designed to support travel management requirements.

Business Travel Reflects a Changing Corporate Landscape

Latika Bolar, Business Head, Ebix Travels, said, “Business travel is ultimately a reflection of where business is happening. What we are seeing is a more distributed business landscape and, consequently, a more distributed travel landscape. As companies expand their operations across locations, travel becomes an increasingly important part of keeping teams connected, projects moving and businesses running efficiently. For us, this reinforces the need to provide enterprises with technology-led travel solutions that can support their employees wherever business takes them.”

The changing mix of destinations demonstrates how corporate mobility is evolving alongside business operations. Travel now serves a wider range of purposes, from supporting project execution and regional operations to facilitating relationships with customers, suppliers and partners.

For enterprises, this makes consistent travel management increasingly important as business requirements extend across metropolitan and emerging markets.

Connecting Established Hubs with Emerging Centres

The rise in smaller-city corporate bookings does not replace established metropolitan travel. Instead, it adds new connections between major business hubs and locations supporting manufacturing, infrastructure, technology and service activity.

This creates a more interconnected corporate travel environment, where travel programmes need to accommodate both high-volume metropolitan routes and journeys to regional business destinations.

Conclusion

The 40% contribution of smaller cities to Ebix Travels’ corporate bookings during H1 FY26 reflects the changing footprint of business activity across India.

As companies expand their operations across established and emerging markets, corporate travel is becoming more varied in both destination and purpose. Ebix’s Travel & Mobility capabilities provide a technology foundation for enterprises managing these evolving requirements across their business travel programmes.

Key Takeaways

• Smaller cities accounted for 40% of Ebix Travels’ corporate bookings during H1 FY26, with bookings originating from or routed to these locations.
• Nearly 60% of corporate bookings across the wider industry in H1 FY26 were linked to non-metro routes.
• India’s corporate travel market is expected to grow by approximately 11–12% in FY26.
• Surat, Indore and Vijayawada are among the cities experiencing increased corporate travel activity, alongside Nagpur.
• Manufacturing, infrastructure, technology and services businesses are contributing to new corporate travel demand.
• Business travel requirements increasingly include flights, hotels, rail journeys and ground transportation.
• Ebix’s Travel & Mobility portfolio includes Corporate and B2B Travel, Travel Booking Technology, Travel Distribution and Ticketing Aggregation.
• The Travel & Mobility Exchange supports NDC and airline-direct content, shopping and booking, ticketing, fulfilment and payments at scale.
• Zillious provides an end-to-end travel technology suite within Ebix’s Travel & Mobility portfolio.

Read more: https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/lt56gor58myf/