AI won't take over travel agencies - it will raise standards, says CoTrav's Vinod Kumar Sah
Hybrid and flexible work have made business travel essential again. Deloitte projects India's corporate travel market to grow at a 10.1% CAGR to US$20.8 billion by FY2030, with the broader travel market reaching US$97 billion. That growth is rewarding platforms that tighten control, reduce waste, and deliver fast service without chaos.
We spoke with Vinod Kumar Sah, CTO and co-founder of CoTrav, about where corporate travel is heading, how AI fits in, and what leaders should prioritise as their travel budgets scale.
What's driving CoTrav's growth
CoTrav runs a tech-first concierge model: a single platform for flights, hotels, cabs, trains, visas/FRRO, plus MICE, backed by 24/7 relationship managers. It's built for control and speed-integrated booking flows, policy enforcement, and clear ownership when issues pop up.
For management teams, the appeal is simple: fewer vendors, fewer leaks, and better compliance. In a market where spending is rising, consolidation with measurable governance is winning.
How CoTrav differentiates
The company isn't trying to be another transactional portal. It blends automation and human support, so businesses get both self-serve speed and a real person when it matters. That reduces friction for procurement, finance, and travelers.
The standout is financial governance: policy mapping, TDS/GST-ready billing, automated bill checks, maker-checker approvals, HRMS/finance integrations, and flexible MIS with real-time analytics. Many competitors miss this layer. CoTrav leans into it and claims up to 20% cost savings.
They also serve SMEs and the mid-market-segments that usually lack enterprise-grade controls. Same visibility and accountability as big companies, with pricing and support that smaller teams can use.
AI's role: higher expectations, better execution
AI isn't replacing travel management companies. It's pushing the benchmark higher. Sah sees three shifts managers should expect:
- Smarter automation: Approvals, bill checks, policy validation, and reconciliation move from manual steps to AI-guided actions in a cashless, paperless flow.
- Real-time decisions: Analytics evolve from static MIS to live recommendations-forecast spend, flag policy risks as they occur, and optimize routes before costs spike.
- Personalization at scale: AI handles preferences and repetitive queries, while relationship managers focus on edge cases and complex itineraries.
The outcome: faster cycles, fewer errors, tighter compliance. This is the standard clients will start to expect.
Untapped opportunities leaders should watch
Sah sees the biggest gap in SMEs and the mid-market. Many still juggle fragmented vendors and manual reconciliation. They need policy control, GST/TDS-ready billing, and simple approvals without enterprise-level price tags.
High-volume travel sectors-healthcare, manufacturing, real estate, logistics, retail-also face heavy ground transport needs and messy vendor networks. A cashless, paperless, compliant setup makes an immediate difference.
There's also room to serve international mid-market companies seeking reliable India coverage.
Funding and liquidity
CoTrav is bootstrapped and profitable, with a healthy liquidity position. The plan is to raise funds in FY 2027 to scale technology and expand into priority markets.
2026 roadmap
Near-term focus: deepen on-ground capabilities in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. Improve platform functionality and usability for a cleaner day-to-day experience.
The team is also evaluating entry into one or two international destinations.
What this means for management
- Push for unified platforms that handle bookings, compliance, and billing in one place. Fragmentation kills visibility and increases leakage.
- Make governance non-negotiable: policy mapping, maker-checker flows, automated bill checks, and GST/TDS-ready invoicing.
- Use AI where it pays off now-approvals, reconciliation, spend forecasting, and real-time policy enforcement.
- If you're an SME or mid-market company, demand enterprise-grade controls without enterprise bloat. The tools exist.
Further reading
For context on market growth, see Deloitte's outlook on corporate travel demand here.
If you're building AI literacy across your team, explore role-based AI upskilling resources here.
Your membership also unlocks:
