The transportation ecosystem in India has been evolving since the launch of several aggregator apps. Since then, these start-ups have mobilized a significant number of labour forces from the unorganised sector to organised. India’s taxi market is estimated to be worth $9 billion, surprisingly organised sector merely constitutes 6% of this figure. This displays how much the unorganised sector is driving the economy.
It’s been almost a decade now, taxi services at the metro and tier 1 cities have been improved efficiently, but the scenario in small cities remains the same. One such initiative in Chhattisgarh, striving to bridge the informal labour force to the organised sector through its platform is an inspiration for changemakers hailing from small communities.
Amit Patel along with Kishor Nayak co-founded Chalbo India Pvt. Ltd. in 2018. The idea was to improve the public transport system within the state of Chhattisgarh by rendering quality rental services. In just two years of its inception, the startup today is operating in 30+ locations throughout Chhattisgarh, serving 30+ corporates with a fleet size of 800+ vehicles and 400+ Drivers.
Chalbo India has been recently selected for the Drishti Program by the Department of Science and Technology at IIM kashipur. Chalbo India is among Top 500 startups who won 35000 INR Facebook credit, also under Top 50 Startup By Lemon Idea.
The inception of Chalbo India
“In our case, the situation was a little different. Generally, people have an idea, and then they consider a startup. But in my case, I knew I had to start a startup. The idea came down the road.” – Says Amit
Amit Patel observed, where the state of road connectivity was quite healthy in Chhattisgarh. On the contrary, the condition of its public transport system was in an abysmal state. Being 2nd tier and 3rd tier cities, buses, taxis, or even car services were not available everywhere, and the one that was, there was no online facility to connect with them.
Finding a solution to this problem led to the launch of Chalbo India- A startup assisting B2B travel services across Chhattisgarh. Amit, with his friend, started Chalbo India Pvt. Ltd. in mid-2018. The initial idea surrounding Chalbo was to make travelling more comfortable by providing a platform to bridge the gap between local travel agents, corporations, and end customers.
Initially, Amit, along with his friend, began approaching the travel agencies from Raigarh(a small town in Chhattisgarh) to collaborate with them. The idea was to assist these local agencies by providing clients through Chalbo India‘s platform on a commission basis. Facing various challenges, Amit says they were fortunate enough to be in profit from the first month itself. And today, Chalbo India is functioning as a successful channel with vehicles available through its connections, which it redirects as a middleman connecting local travel agencies, corporates, and end customers.
Starting from a little city of Raigarh, this rapidly growing startup now operates throughout Chhattisgarh, with its head office at Government Incubation Centre 36inc at Raipur.
Initial Challenges
As a startup, there were various challenges that we had to face in the beginning. Coming from a service class family and with an engineering background we didn’t know the ABC’s of business be it the setup, marketing, sales, management or even funding and pitching we just had no idea about any of these – Says Amit
According to the founders, as the startup was self-funded, one of the significant challenges it faced was with networking and vending the product. Due to the limited industry experience and elementary business skills, in the beginning, it was tough to attract various travel agencies to work with them.
Amit tells it was meeting and connecting with people in the field, which helped them gain the required knowledge for the initial set up. Though, the networking and marketing of Chalbo India was the outcome of the hit and trial method’s practical approaches. Initially, the duo got their bookings and collaborations via randomly approaching the local corporations and travel agents, in-person contacts, and word of mouth. However, with time and with the help of technology and their team, Chalbo India gained rapid momentum, securing its place in the market.
From Services to the Clients of Chalbo India.
Chalbo India, in 2019, shifted its business model entirely into B2B from its initial B2C model. Today, Chalbo India offers multiple services to its customers according to their wants and needs. One of the primary assistance it provides to its corporate clients is where it takes vehicles from its ally travel agents. It customizes those vehicles according to the corporate standards and then serves it to the clients.
Chalbo India also provides its Driver services where the customers can hire verified private drivers for 1 to 10 days through its platform. With several other services from car to bus rental service currently, the startup serves 30+ corporates, including clients from Accenture, Castrol, Goonj foundation, and many more.
Future of Travel Services After Pandemic
According to Amit, there will be both challenges as well as opportunities following the pandemic. Addressing the possibilities, people will now be more conscious regarding their health and safety. They will favor rental, private transport services more than public transport. Though this comes with a drawback, it won’t be cost-effective, but there will still be the inclination towards private carriers.
Speaking of disadvantages, he added that as significant players in the market have more vehicles increasing their maintenance costs, it will be difficult for them to keep floating with these pandemic situations hitting the travel sector. Even small businesses in the industry need to survive for 3-4 months on their own, after which they can expect growth.
He further pointed to concern over the end of healthy competition in the market and how there would be a race to earn more money due to the losses that occurred by COVID. This unhealthy competition will put an extra burden on the end customer as they would have to bear the increased costs of services and even the GST.
Advice for budding Entrepreneurs and Youngsters
According to Amit, first, to be an entrepreneur, you need to own the guts to face people and the community. If you survive this, you must have the potential to handle all the mental pressure it brings. Here you are asked to put your efforts 24*7 as you work for yourself, not others. However, If you are someone comfortable with 9 to 5 culture, this field may not be for you.
Whereas if you still have a passion for it, then give it a try at least once in your life because you would fail at most, which will be far better than the regret of not trying and succeeding. Amit concluded the note with “Try it once if you really want too instead of regretting later in life as taking a risk is a much better choice than having regret.”
