‘India Assist’ provides ‘First-Call Assistance’ to any traveller who requires assistance. To provide seamless travel, India Assist works on an app-based model. Harish Khatri, Founder & MD, India Assist talks about his roller-coaster journey while curating the powerful app and his vision for years to come.
Bharti Sharma
As they say, a journey of thousand miles begins with a small step. The seed of ‘India Assist’ was sown during Harish’s trip to the USA. While travelling through the country, he interacted with numerous people who wanted to travel to India but were discouraged by the experiences they might face in the country. Moreover, knowing people from different countries were keen on visiting India was yet another motivation for him. This was when he knew his calling. Through his research and first-hand experiences, he realised there is no centralised assistance system available for tourists and it is becoming a major deterrent for many who plan to visit India. Reminiscing his journey, he asserts, “The journey wasn’t easy though as I didn’t have any tech background and I hardly knew anyone in the travel industry. But I would say, the Almighty has been kind to me. Moving forward I kept getting support from relevant people who could connect with the idea of India Assist and guided me so well that we were able to create an emergency assistance system for travellers. In fact, now we have started getting queries from different countries to set up this assistance system for tourists in their countries as well.”
Expansive network in 120 cities
India Assist is the showcase startup of the Government of India. They received the patent for the process in 2021. At the moment, they have their own network in 100 cities in India and are all set to start operations in Nepal. India Assist plans to get global representation in the coming years. With several expansion plans, they aim to cover 120 cities in India by the end of this financial year. They are also planning to expand their footprints in 10 countries by 2024. Sharing further, Harish tells, “We are the only startup across India with special permission from RBI to charge foreign tourists in a currency of their choice. We are full-time members in the Startup category of almost all industrial bodies, including ASSOCHAM, FICCI, CII and PHD Chambers of Commerce. We are FDI funded and also have some marquee investors from India on board with us.”
Travel is the most visible and inspiring industry
India Assist provided more than 3000 free assistance to foreigners stranded in India when Covid-19 was at its peak. Being an extremely optimistic and visionary person, Harish always believed that the travel industry is one of the most visible and aspiring service industries in the world. On asking why, he shares, “The world has gone through a series of unwanted, life-threatening events in the last few decades. But regardless of these crisis situations, people didn’t stop travelling. They just want a getaway from their homes- be it to reconnect with their loved ones, revisit their favourite destinations or explore new places. For instance, post the pandemic the travel industry exploded like never before. People want to travel, and nothing can thwart their impulse to travel. Hence, putting our energies into the travel sector proved to be a worthy investment.”
Must have tool for industry
Through its patented app, India Assist is trying to support the entire industry to handhold their customers better and concrete their relation with customers like never before. In this pursuit, they are getting support from Tourism boards, Hoteliers, Govt PSUs and Travel Agents as well. The industry has realised that the active real-time assistance gap is a sad fact and it requires mindfulness and acting for the industry to compete with more established tourist destinations and countries. Harish comments “Because people travel is the reason behind the travel industry having a huge presence in the country and across the world. Travellers spend a lot of money, time and resources while travelling. The absence of emergency assistance for their handholding and guidance at every step of their travel is not only unfair to the travellers but also a matter of concern for the destination and we all need to work towards it. We are currently reaching out to them through our b2b partners. Travellers can ask hotels and tour operators to provide India Assist services, which they will secure for the travellers.”
Challenging Turnaround with New Dimension of Hope
The two-year-long global pandemic forced many businesses to redesign their products and services. India Assist launched as an app-based emergency assistance service for travellers in Feb 2020 and was shut down within a month in March 2020. On recalling the scenario, Harish says that it was a challenging time for the travel industry, which was terribly hit and they were back then at a nascent stage. He adds, “Despite all the hindrances, we always believed in our product, and we proved that India Assist has a lot of resilience. After the pandemic, we bounced back, giving world-class Assistance Services in a B2B avatar for all domestic and international travellers. Our primary focus is to build a service ecosystem connecting hotels, travel agents, airlines, railways and travel insurance.”
Making travel seamless, smarter and safer
Now that we have more reasons than one to understand why should we have it, the question is how does it work? Honestly, it’s even simpler than making an online transaction, or even online shopping. The platform encompasses all segments of a traveller, whether it’s a millennial looking for an immediate update or a senior citizen who requires aid with everything, India assist is for everyone looking for a hassle-free travel experience. Harish shares, “The model generates a code when a service is sold to the client through our B2B partner. Thereafter, the client can download the app using that code. In case they require any assistance, they can simply press the alert buttons on the app. Once the ticket is raised for assistance, a trained India Assist ground staff gets assigned and the traveller gets the assistance on their exact location, the location that we capture when the call gets generated to our Call Centre. Based on the support protocol for each situation, the ground staff will provide support and alleviate the travellers’ experiences.”
What is covered:
To sum up, India Assist provides the following services in order to facilitate a seamless and hassle-free experience for travellers:
- Verified information and personal assistance: In today’s time, travellers require quick information in the blink of an eye. India Assist team provides the same to travellers to ease their travel experience.
- Medical emergency support: We provide medical support to travellers and connect them to the nearest hospital in case of an emergency.
- On-ground support in case of Theft, Loss, Altercation Transit Assistance or any other urgent/critical requirement: Our dedicated ground staff supports the clients in these situations by handholding them through such distress situations and ensuring that they’re not all by themselves in a new city.
- Pick and drop services for solo travellers and Senior Citizens: India Assist offers easy pick & drop service from Airports, Railway Stations & Bus Terminals to make the trip hassle-free, especially for Solo Travelers and Senior Citizens.
