Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. (TCIL) is the leading integrated transnational travel and travel related financial services company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services that include Foreign E
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xchange, Corporate Travel, MICE, Leisure Travel, Insurance, Visa & Passport services and E-Business. The Thomas Cook India Group spanning 29 countries across 5 continents operates leading B2C and B2B brands including, Thomas Cook, SOTC, TCI, SITA, Asian Trails, Allied T Pro, Australian Tours Management, Desert Adventures, Travel Circle International Limited, Private Safaris East & South Africa. The Group is today one of the largest travel service provider networks headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region.
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd was incorporated as Thomas Cook (India) Pvt Ltd on October 21, 1978. The name of the company was changed to Thomas Cook (India) Ltd on March 07, 1979. The company was originally promoted by Thomas Cook Group Ltd, the history of which can be traced back to the founder Thomas Cook. He commenced business in the United Kingdom in 1841 which included organizing group tours called Cook's Tours. In accordance with the permission granted by RBI, Thomas Cook Overseas Ltd transferred their business in India to the company as a going concern with effect from November 01, 1978.
In the year 1994, the company transferred their cargo business to their subsidiary company. The company set up a Leisure Travel department to promote domestic and outbound holiday travel, within India and to others parts of the world. In the year 1996, the company opened a foreign exchange office at Jalandhar in Punjab and foreign exchange counter at Kolkata International Airport. They also inaugurated full-fledged offices at Saltlec in Calcutta and the Indian Institute of Sciences at Bangalore.
In the year 1998, the company successfully established their first ever implant with State Bank of India at Calangute in Goa. The company also launched Visa Travel Money Card, a pre-paid ATM card which enables the traveler to withdraw local currency from more than 44,000 Visa ATMs across 117 countries worldwide.
In the year 2000, the company signed the Name License and Technical Assistance agreement with Thomas Cook Holdings, UK, for operating in the Indian Ocean Rim region of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka etc. They also acquired the business of Thomas Cook's overseas business in Sri Lanka for Rs 2.74 crore. The company opened their second office in Mauritius at Port Louis.
In the year 2001, the company opened their leisure travel office in Panjim, Goa for targeting up-market tourists. In June 2001, they launched India's first ever Ticket Auctions on Bidorbuyindia.com with their European tickets. In April 2002, Thomas Cook Insurance Services (India) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company was given the corporate agency license of TATA - AIG General Insurance Company.
In the year 2003, the company won two key new accounts from Belgium and the Netherlands for their inbound charter handling business. The company along with Galileo India issued the first e-ticket in India through the Global Distribution System. They issued the first remotely printed international airline ticket at the office of one of their key customers.
In the year 2004, the company incorporated four step-down subsidiary companies during the year, two each in Mauritius and Sri Lanka. In Mauritius, the company incorporated Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Travel Ltd to undertake the business of General Sales Agent (GSA) of Airlines operating out of Mauritius while Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Holidays Ltd was incorporated to undertake the Indian outbound tourist business in Mauritius. Both these companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Holding Company Ltd.
In Sri Lanka; the company incorporated Thomas Cook Lanka Holdings (Pvt) Ltd as an investment vehicle for the company's investments in Sri Lanka. This company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Holding Company Ltd. The other company incorporated is Airline Services Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of Thomas Cook Lanka Holdings (Pvt) Ltd to undertake the business of General Sales Agent (GSA) of Airlines operating out of Sri Lanka.
The company commenced General Sales Agency (GSA) operations through their subsidiary Airline Services Lanka (Pvt) Ltd and Thomas Cook (Mauritius) Travel Ltd by entering into an agreement with Condor.
In the year 2005, the company incorporated a step-down subsidiary in Thailand, named as Thomas Cook Travel & Foreign Exchange (Thailand) Ltd and a wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore named as Thomas Cook Travel & Foreign Exchange (Singapore) Pte Ltd. Also, they opened a new outlet at Union Place, the prime area in Colombo for retail businesses.
In the year 2006, the company acquired the LKP Forex Ltd and Travel Corporation (India) Ltd. Also, they sold their 100% stake in Hindustan Cargo Ltd. In March 2006, the Leisure and Corporate Travel business started trading and offers inbound holidays, outbound holidays, and corporate travel services. In February 2007, the company launched their new premium holidays brand '100% Holidays'. In March 2007, the company and ICICI Bank launched Thomas Cook Titanium Mastercard.
In December 2007, the company signed a MOU with JTB Corp, Japan, in which the company able to access the JTB Corp network across 30 countries along with affiliates spreading over 800 offices. For JTB Corp, the alliance provides a ready platform to enter the Indian market. The company closed down their operations in Thomas Cook Travel (Thailand) Ltd and Thomas Cook Travel & Foreign Exchange (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
In the year 2008, the company made a tie up with Axis Bank for pre-paid forex card which offers exchange of upto 7 currencies. In October 2008, the company made a tie up with that ItzCash from the Essel group stable to facilitate online travel bookings. In December 2008, the company made a tie up with cruise line operator Indian Ocean Cruises of London based Foresight Smart Ventures, to market the heritage cruise Ocean Odyssey in India and Mauritius.
On 21 May 2012, Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius) Limited, a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, agreed with the erstwhile promoters of the company to acquire 77% stake in Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. (TCIL) Ltd. for Rs 817.40 crore.
In February 2013, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. (TCIL) acquired 74% stake in Quess Corp (previously IKYA Human Capital Solutions Private Limited) for Rs 259 crore.
In February 2014, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. & Sterling Holiday Resorts (India) Ltd. announced merger in a cash and stock deal valued at about Rs 870 crore.
On 30 July 2015, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. announced its acquisition of Luxe Asia, a Destination Management Company based in Sri Lanka, through its wholly owned subsidiary Thomas Cook Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. The company will be operated as an independent entity. Thomas Cook (India)'s acquisition of Luxe Asia gives it significant presence in Sri Lanka with destination management capabilities in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean region; also synergies with its key business lines of Outbound, Inbound and Corporate MICE. Based in Sri Lanka, Luxe Asia is focused primarily on inbound tourism from key global markets and services both tour operator and traveller segments across its ten destinations in the Indian Ocean Region and Asia. The 2 joint ventures of Luxe Asia include, Khiri Travels, a leader with over 20 years of operation in the South East Asian region; also a Destination Management Company for the UAE market.
In August 2015, Thomas Cook (India) acquired Kuoni Group's travel operations in India and Hong Kong for about Rs 535 crore.
On 29 June 2017, Thomas Cook (India) announced the completion of the acquisition of a significant part of Kuoni's global Destination Management Specialists (DMS) network across 21 countries and 4 continents for about Rs 126 crore. As a part of this acquisition, the Thomas Cook India Group will now include leading Destination Management Specialists (DMS) like Asian Trails (APAC), Desert Adventures (MENA), ATM-Australian Tours Management (Australia), Allied T Pro (North America), Private Safaris (Eastern Africa) and Private Safaris (Southern Africa) under its network creating a seamless delivery capability for the group and its B2B and B2C customers across 21 countries and 4 continents. Post the acquisition; the Thomas Cook India Group has been transformed into one of the largest travel service provider networks headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region.
In October 2017, Thomas Cook (India) concluded the acquisition of Forex and Travel businesses of Tata Capital for about Rs 15 crore.
In March 2018, Quess Corp was re-classified as an associate of the company.The Board of Directors of Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL) at its meeting held on 23 April 2018 approved (subject to regulatory approvals) a corporate restructuring exercise by way of a composite scheme of arrangement and amalgamation, aimed at streamlining its businesses into four key verticals namely: Travel (outbound, domestic, business travel & MICE), Foreign Exchange, Destination Management Services and Portfolio Investments such as Sterling Holiday Resorts Ltd. The restructuring also involves the consolidating of the human resource services business into Quess Corp. Pursuant to the composite scheme, TCIL shareholders will receive 1,889 equity shares of Quess (of Rs 10 each) for every 10,000 equity shares (of Rs 1 each) held in TCIL. The proposed restructuring is aimed at simplifying & clarifying structure & holdings, streamlining businesses & resources, ensuring focused management, consolidating real estate and also various brands acquired through inorganic growth & eliminating cross holdings. The proposed restructuring also recognises that the nature of markets, challenges, competition, opportunities for the human resource businesses are distinct and separate from the travel & travel related businesses and each are capable of attracting a different set of investors, strategic partners and stakeholders.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI), vide its Order dated May 21, 2014 imposed a penalty of Rs. 10 million on the parties to the Composite Scheme of Arrangement and Amalgamation between Sterling Holidays Resorts (India) Limited (since amalgamated), Thomas Cook Insurance Services (India) Limited (since renamed as Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited) and the Company. The parties filed an appeal with the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) against the said Order. COMPAT by its Order admitted the appeal and set aside the impugned Order. CCI subsequently filed an Appeal against COMPAT's impugned Order before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India by its Order dated April 17, 2018 allowed the appeal of the CCI, set aside the Order passed by COMPAT and restored the Order passed by CCI imposing penalty of Rs. 10 million with no further costs.
The Company on April 3, 2018 completed the acquisition of 100% stake in TC Travel Services Limited (formerly known as TC Travel and Services Limited) from TC Tours Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. II. The Company on April 20, 2018 completed the acquisition of balance 4.44% equity stake in Travel Corporation (India) Limited (TCI) from Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. III. The Board, at its meeting held on April 23, 2018 and which was further amended on December 19, 2019, approved the Composite Scheme of Arrangement and Amalgamation amongst Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL), Quess Corp Limited (QCL), Travel Corporation (India) Limited (TCI), TC Forex Services Limited (formerly known as Tata Capital Forex Limited) (TCF), TC Travel Services Limited (formerly known as TC Travel and Services Limited) (TCTSL) and SOTC Travel Management Private Limited (formerly known as SITA Travels and Tours Private Limited) (SOTC Travel) and their respective shareholders in accordance with the provisions of Section 230 to 232 read with Section 52, 55 and 66 of the Companies Act, 2013. The Scheme inter alia provides: i Demerger of the inbound business of TCI consisting of business of handling inward foreign tourist activity from TCI into SOTC Travel; ii. Amalgamation of residual TCI, TCF and TCTSL with TCIL; and iii. Demerger of Human Resource Services Business of TCIL (including shares in QCL held by TCIL) into QCL.
In March 2019, the Company acquired 51% stake in DEI Holdings Limited (DEI).
During FY19, the Group acquired a minority stake in Ithaka, owned by Traveljunkie Solutions Pvt. Ltd. In addition to its existing services for destinations such as Thailand, Bali, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia and Turkey, it now extended its offerings to 8 more countries situated in Europe - France, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Spain.
During the year 2019, the Thomas Cook India Group undertook a corporate restructuring programme that was aimed at simplifying and clarifying structure and holdings, streamlining businesses and resources, ensuring focused management and eliminating cross holdings. The restructuring involves consolidating of human resource services business into Quess. Pursuant to the Composite scheme, the Company's shareholders will receive 1,886 equity shares of Quess (of Rs 60 each) for every 10,000 equity shares (of Rs 6 each) held in the former.
In FY19, Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited, a leading holiday lifestyle company, launched resorts in Jaipur and Mount Abu and plans to launch more destinations including Srinagar, Mysore and Gangtok.
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