Hot Seat

New beginnings, old habits

Ashwini Kakkar, recent executive vice chairman of Mercury Travels, has so far had a career that has only headed northwards, without relenting to any taper and staring down uncertainty along the way. Bhisham Mansukhani speaks to him about the new course he is charting

For some, a position of considerable reputation that they have worked towards garnering over a period of time is something they prefer to hold on to into their respective twilights. But for a certain Ashwini Kakkar, there's no such thing as a comfort zone, even if it entails fronting one of the country's largest tour operation businesses, TAAI as its president, WTTC's India Chapter as its chairman, and previously BCCI as its president.

He took all the above responsibilities in a 24-hour day and notched benchmarks in each. All of that, he said, only egged him to look further and start anew, not just to experience the thrill of building up again but to set new trends in the travel trade that he has become so attached to. In this light it comes as no surpirse to see Kakkar recently take on the role of executive vice chairman of Mercury Travels, one of the oldest agency in the country.

While most perceive diversity as the essence of experience, Kakkar sees it as indispensable. On the academic front, in his formative years as a tyro accumulating knowledge or as fronting management in a number of different corporations before settling down to his stint of nearly nine years, Kakkar has thrown many verticals into the mix. Mechanical engineering, finance, management, law! Otis, Phillips, General Electric, Thomas Cook! The choices couldn't be more poles apart.

He never felt he was destined to be in this industry to begin with. His first reaction to the prospect was sceptical. It would seem rather ironic that the industry for which he has become the unanimously celebrated ambassador was the one he was most apprehensive to join. It was a tough role from the onset. Thomas Cook India Ltd was then a relatively small company with limited brand equity. "I had my reservations about joining the tourism industry under the prevailing circumstances back then. You had to secure RBI permission in order to receive US $8 on an international trip and an economy class round trip to London would set one back by Rs 54,000. It was a niche market. I suppose that there are many professions that one can choose from but to participate in people's holidays is one of the more exhilarating ones," Kakkar reflects.

Technocrat at heart

Coming in from General Electric, selling the concept of international holidays in a regulated market was a daunting task. Further, the organisation itself needed an overhaul in tandem with the incipience of reform at a governmental level. "So I started with a focus on numbers with the result that revenues swelled," he says.

His focus on technology as a platform for driving growth reflected in some historic additions to Thomas Cook's infrastructure. The computer count went from 30 antiquated terminals to 1,100 Internet-capable computers and 100 servers. Thomas Cook also notched a notable first by setting up the first dedicated call centre by an Indian tour operator which now has 60 employees. These, Kakkar stresses "are travel experts, not a churned batch of neophytes".

"The industry did not have any benchmark to follow at that point and our only barometer was guest satisfaction. However, that challenge lay in the fact that this aspect had to be pre-empted,” Kakkar adds. Over the years, he was inducted to the worldwide board and all countries stretching from Singapore to Egypt including Thailand, Mauritius and Sri Lanka were brought under his ambit, the most for any Indian professional fronting multinational tourism operations.

Change is the essence

The transition, Kakkar notes, was an interesting one. Change was everywhere. And Kakkar was part of it on both fronts - organisational and industrial. He was instrumental in pushing for open skies which the aviation ministry is now introducing in phases. During his tenure as Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) president, he underlined the importance of Mumbai to India's economy. BCCI had a total reserve of Rs 7 crore in 165 years. When Kakkar left after a year, it was Rs 12 crore. As TAAI president now and VP before, he envisages a travel agent business model which is more broad-based and sophisticated with little reliance on the international airline ticketing business. He is also busy ensuring that WTTC Indian Chapter's retreat this year receives influential political and private heavyweights at Indian and international levels.

Kakkar was instrumental in pushing through a landmark initiative with the Indian Railways which will allow IATA-approved travel agents to access almost 6.5 billion railway passengers annually. Following a long period of lobbying with the Ministry of Railways and Indian Railways' authorities by TAAI, the Indian Railways allowed IATA agents to book tickets on behalf of their passengers on its website.

Under his presidency, TAAI also brought down insurance premium on agent bank guarantee from one per cent by 40 basis points to 0.6 per cent, in a deal with Oriental Insurance. Under the general insurance scheme launched in 2004 which replaced the joint bank guarantee scheme, member agents pay just 0.6 per cent of net payments made to the Billing Settlement Plan (BSP) every month.

One of his key objectives, he said, as TAAI president was to reduce agent dependence on airline ticketing which currently accounts for 95 per cent of a typical agent's business to 30 per cent while growing the individual agent's business by 10 per cent annually.

But work is not all there is to the man. Kakkar does have a parallel, private persona - wine connoisseur, music composer, art collector, sports enthusiast, et al. Despite his suffocating routine, he has time to ruminate on all of his 550 and more paintings of contemporary Indian and international artists. Art is in fact how he views his profession and since this almost whimsical discipline sees no limit or end to its creative heights, redoubtably, neither does he.