Public transportation improves the quality of life in communities around the country by providing safe, efficient, and affordable service. It is also one of the crucial fundamental towards the thriving economy.
Public transportation serves not only the people who use it but also society. Since transportation is a vital requirement for day-to-day activities, it is utterly essential to provide convenient services in this industry. With an aim to ensure reliability, Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions Pvt. Ltd. provides impeccable solutions altogether by enabling convenience in the transportation industry.
The company has a fleet of over 1200 vehicles ranging from Indica sedans to Volvo buses and small tempos to multi-axle trucks; the Prasanna Group can now brag about being one of the major transport firms operating across the country, employing over 4000 people.
Under the visionary business acumen and the dedication and passion of Prasanna Patwardhan, CMD, the company has eventually experienced exponential growth in the industry.
In an exclusive interview with CIO LOOK India, Prasanna sheds light on the company’s journey, highlighting the current industry scenario, and his opinions on the future of Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions.
Prasanna, please brief our audience about Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions Pvt Ltd, its USPs, and how it is currently positioned as a leading player in the travel management space.
Prasanna Purple is a tech-driven surface mobility solutions company operating daily 1200+ buses in 85 cities and catering to five lakh passengers daily. The business vertical includes electric buses, city buses, intercity, employee mobility, school and metro feeders, and tourism.
Our USPs are:
- Technology-driven operations
- 24X7 command center
- 35% repeat customers
- 54 hrs training program at each level
- Well documented process
- Data analytics
What services do your company offer, and how are these making an impact on the travel management space?
Prasanna Purple offers various services, including electric buses, city buses, intercity, employee mobility, school, and metro feeders. We undertake public transport projects under the ‘Public-Private Partnership’ initiative taken by the Central Government under the scheme of ‘Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM)’ from City administration.
We also offer interstate transportation using high-end, super-luxury, air-conditioned coaches. We service all important routes in Western India, including Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Goa, and others. Our organisation also provides buses to schools to meet their needs.
We have a large selection of vehicles and buses. Our vehicles are used for a variety of purposes, including corporate events, family gatherings, airport transfers, weekend trips, and so on.
We provide frequent training to our drivers in areas such as safety, security, and other critical topics such as emergency evacuation protocols. Many major sporting events, including the Commonwealth Youth Games, have given us the honour of being official travel partners. We were the Indian Cricket Team’s official travel partner, handling all of their logistical needs for international matches.
Being an experienced leader, share with us your opinions on the impact of modern technologies in the industry?
Future technology wills such as AI will play a vital role if you want to scale up your business with accuracy with the help of the following:
- AI Assistants for Booking
- Robots for Customer Services
- AI Forecasting
- Sentiment Analysis
- Augmented Reality Apps – Meta world
- Personalization is service delivery
Taking into consideration the current pandemic, what initial challenges did you face, and how did you drive your company to sustain operations while ensuring the safety of your employees at the same time?
Travel was the first which was badly impacted before lockdown. People turn out was very poor.
We introduced PURPLE SAFETY measures, which include zinc coating of our buses from inside, deeply cleaning and sanitization, social distancing, and driver and crew vaccination drive to bring back customer confidence and investment in remote working capabilities.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the travel management space?
Position your services to enhance customer experience and leverage technology wherever possible. Training and development of manpower will always give you a competitive edge. Winning top line is a short term whereas winning bottom line is a long-term strategy for any business, you must remain profitable.
How do you envision scaling your company’s operations and offerings in 2022 and beyond?
Improving service quality in line with pandemic will help us position ourselves self-better in the market, for our demand-pull is the sum of better & profitable customer experience.
Exemplary Leadership
The Prasanna Group was founded by Mr Keshav Waman Patwardhan, father of Mr Prasanna Patwardhan, CMD, Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions. Mr Patwardhan is an active member of many industrial bodies and transport organizations such as:
- Director, Global Passenger Network (GPN)
- Member, International Road Transport Union (IRU)
- President, Bus & Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI)
- Chairman, Transport Committee, The Maratha Chamber of Commerce Industries & Agriculture (MCCIA)
- President, Maharashtra Rajya Truck, Tempo, Tanker, Bus Vahatuk Mahsangh
- Principal Member, Transport Services Sectional Committee, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
- Member, India SME Forum
- Member, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI)
- Member, Infhra (Association of Facility Management Companies)
- Member, National Logistics Committee CII
- Executive Member, Logistics Skill Council CII
- Executive Committee Member, All India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners’ Associations
- Executive Committee Member, All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC)
- Member, UITP (Global transporters federation)
Mr Prasanna Patwardhan has been instrumental in introducing new activities such as passenger, goods transportation, domestic/international tours, and travels and highway restaurants/hotels. He has consolidated the group activities and drove the group’s annual turnover from mere 3.0 lacs to 300+ crores.
