Travel: As India Inc opens its doors to the world, business travel takes off

Business travel is picking up again, thanks to a two-year low in Covid-19 cases and companies gradually reopening offices, but India Inc is still playing it safe. Many companies, including ITC, the RPG Group, KPMG, Mphasis, Panasonic, Dabur, UpGrad, and Mercedes-Benz India, have resumed business travel, but only when absolutely necessary and with stringent safety protocols in place.

Business travel is still only 10-20% of pre-pandemic levels, according to most companies ET spoke with, though they expect it to increase in the coming months if the Covid situation remains under control.
“Business travel has resumed,” said Amitav Mukherji, head of corporate human resources at ITC, a tobacco-to-hospitality conglomerate. “Some interactions are best carried out in person. As a result, we’ll see a mix of in-person and virtual meetings.”

Employees at IT firm Mphasis travel for client meetings, visas, relocations, and other reasons, though business travel is only 15% of what it was before Covid, according to chief HR officer Srikanth Karra. KPMG has also reintroduced business travel, initially for client work and now, on a limited basis, for internal meetings, according to Sunit Sinha, head of people, performance, and culture. Because of the changing Covid situation and the recent spike in infections in parts of Asia and Western Europe, businesses are being cautious.

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