COX and KINGS
Overview
Tourism has been a major social phenomenon of societies all over the world. It is driven by the natural urge of every human being for new experiences, and the desire to be both educated and entertained. The motivations for tourism also include religious and business interests; the spread of education has fostered a desire to know more about different parts of the globe. The basic human thirst for new experience and knowledge has become stronger, as communication barriers are getting overcome by technological advances. Expenditure on tourism induces a chain of transactions requiring supply of goods and services from the related sectors. The consumption demand, emanating from tourist expenditure also induces more employment and generates a multiplier effect on the economy. Tourism in India broadly classified in North Indian Tourism, East Indian Tourism, West Indian Tourism, and South Indian Tourism. Each part of India offers identifiable differences from the rest of the nation. Tourism in India has come into its own as a brand – India Tourism. The creation of niche tourism products like heliport tourism, medical tourism, wellness tourism, adventure tourism, cruise tourism and caravan tourism has served to widen the net of this sector. Inbound tourism is booming and the country is going all out to lure more travelers from around the world. Contrary to perceptions across the world that tourism in India is still confined to traditions, the country is opening up with trendy tour packages and affordable air travel deals to woo inbound visitors from every segment.

Tourism firms in INDIA

1 | Make My Trip
Corporate office – Gurgaon, Haryana | Establishment – 2000 |
Business – Online Travel Company | Website – www.makemytrip.com | MakeMyTrip.com has revolutionized the travel industry in India. Founded in the year 2000 makemytrip is an online travel company offering domestic and international travel services which comprises of flight, train and bus tickets, holiday packages, hotel reservations and other products and services.
2 | Thomas Cook
Corporate office – London, UK | Establishment – 1881|
Business – Tourism | Website – www.thomascook.in | Thomas Cook (India) Ltd is one of the leading travel companies in India operating in more than 98 cities and the worldwide offices are located in Sri Lanka and Mauritius. Services offered by Thomas Cook includes MICE, Corporate Travel Management, Foreign Exchange, Insurance, Leisure Travel and E-Business. Thomas Cook has been awarded the Most Trusted Brand in travel services by The Brand Trust Report™ and has won many prestigious awards in travel category.
3 | Cox & Kings
Corporate office – Mumbai, Maharashtra | Establishment – 1758 |
Business – Travel Company | Website – www.coxandkings.com | Found in year 1758 Cox & Kings is the leader of the travel industry in India. Company’s Indian headquarter is located in Mumbai. Cox & Kings has 12 offices in India and global offices are located in UK, Japan, USA, Russia, Dubai and Singapore. The services offered by the company are Outbound Tourism, Destination Management, Domestic Holidays, Trade Fairs, Business and Travel etc.
4| Yatra
Corporate office – Gurgaon, Haryana | Establishment – 2006 |
Business – Online Travel company | Website – www.yaatra.co.in | Yatra.com is India’s premium tour operator offering all travel related services and products. It is one of the best travel companies in India providing all the information, availability, pricing details and bookings of domestic and international hotels, packages, train, flights and car rentals across 336 cities.
5 | SOTC
Corporate office – Mumbai, Maharashtra | Establishment – 1949 |
Business – Tourism | Website – www.sotc.in | India’s leading online travel company SOTC is Kuoni India’s travel brand. SOTC is among the top 10 travel companies in India having expertise in Escorted Tours, and Domestic Holidays, Free Individual Travel, Corporate tours, Trade Fair Tours and Customized Holidays.
6 | Goibibo
Corporate office – Gurgaon, Haryana | Establishment – 2009 |
Business – Travel & hospitality | Website – www.goibibo.com | Goibibo.com a MIG Group company established in 2009 has overpowered its competitors to emerge as one among the best travel companies in India. The one-stop online travel company features various travel services and products which allows the user to explore the largest range of destinations and hotels with the world’s leading online travel company.
7 | Expedia
Corporate office – Bellevue, Washington, U.S.| Establishment – 1996 |
Business – Online Travel Company | Website – www.expedia.co.in | Expedia, Inc. enables travelers to buy air tickets, hotels and holiday packages in any part of the world all from one place. Unlike other travel companies in India Expedia offers more than 75000 hotels and over 3000 holiday packages with additional features wherein a user can check the map and weather forecasts of the destination.

8 | Cleartrip
Corporate office – Mumbai, Maharashtra | Establishment – 2006 |
Business – Online Travel Company | Website – www.cleartrip.com | Cleartrip.com is an online travel company headquartered in Mumbai. Cleartrip provides online travel services which includes and international holiday packages, reservations, rail tickets, flight tickets and bus tickets. Cleartrip is rated one of the reliable online travel companies in India.
9| Travelguru
Corporate office – Mumbai, Maharashtra | Establishment – 2005 |
Business – Online travel agency | Website – www.travelguru.com | Since 2005 Travelguru.com has been facilitating its customers to make wise decisions and smart travel plans by giving users access to various deals on airlines and hotels worldwide. Travelguru offers the facility to book and explore air tickets, hotel rooms, cruises and vacation packages more conveniently and securely.
10| Akbar Travels Of India Pvt Ltd
Corporate office – Mumbai, Maharashtra | Establishment – 2007 |
Business – | Website – www.akbartravelsonline.com | Akbar Travels has become one of the reputed travel agency in India in terms of the largest number of IATA approved Branches. It has a online portal Akbartravelsonline.com which assists its users to book domestic and international flight and rail tickets and hotels at low costs

Various Targets for Tourism Sector

As Tourism Sector is one of the major component of the service sector in India, its growth targets have to be linked with the targeted growth of service sector during the 12th Five Year Plan. For the projected growth of 9 to 9.5% of Indian economy during 12th Plan Period, tourism sector may have to match the projected growth of 12% Plan Period, tourism sector may have to match the projected growth of 12% for the services sector as against the current growth of 9%. To realize this growth target, tourism sector may have to achieve the following * Increase India s share of International Tourist arrivals to at least 1% by end of XII Plan- requiring annual growth of 12.38% during 2011 and 2016. * Provide adequate facilities for domestic tourism to sustain the growth of 12.16% (witnessed in recent years) during 12th Plan (2011-16)
Implications of the targets:

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs):

Number of FTAs and Foreign Tourist Visits (FTVs) in 2016 is estimated to be 11.24 million and 35.95 million respectively.

Domestic Tourism:

Number of Domestic Tourist Visits (DTVs) in 2016 is projected to be 1451.46 million.

Additional Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from tourism:

The Foreign Exchange Earnings from Tourism is likely to increase from Rs. 64889 crore (US$ 14.19 Billion) in 2010 to Rs. 134383 crore (US $ 30.3 Billion) in 2016. Additional FEE from Tourism during 2010-16 is estimated to be Rs. 69494 crore (US $ 15.7 Billion).

Employment Generation

Using the data on share of tourism in the total jobs in the country available from Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) for 2002-03 and estimated for years till 2007-08, the total number of jobs (direct and indirect) in the tourism sector in 2016 is likely to be 77.5 million as compared to 53 million in 2010. Therefore, an additional employment of 24.5 million (direct and indirect) may be created during 2010 to 2016.

Initiatives to achieve the target

To achieve various targets and address the challenges involved in the tourism sector during 12th Five Year Plan, following initiatives are proposed to be undertaken:

Skill Development

Enhancing the institutional infrastructure of Hospitality Education by

* Opening new Institutes of Hotel Management (IHM) and Food Crafts Institutes (FCI) * Augmenting the capacity of existing IHM/FCI * Facilitating private sector investments
Hospitality Education to be broad based to cover

* Universities/Colleges * Polytechnics * Industrial Training Institutes * Vocational Education at +2 level through CBSE and other State Level Boards
Skill development through * educational/training institutions mentioned above * Classified Star category hotels * Skills of existing Service Providers to be certified through a stringent process to enhance their employability * New sectors to be identified. * E.g. Restoration workers of heritage bulking * Convergence with Planning Commission, Ministries of HRD, Labour & Rural Development.
Infrastructure Development

* Identify major Circuits/Destinations having potential to attract large number of visitors – for development in Mission Mode * Develop Tourism Parks to be located in developed/underdeveloped/unexplored area of tourist interest * Identify clusters of villages having unique craft, ethnic art form for development as Tourism Products * Development of existing circuits/destinations to be continued under MoTs current scheme.
Hygiene and Sanitation

* Sanitation, solid waste management and clean water major concerns for tourists * Sensitizing and awareness generation of all stakeholders required * Ministry to undertake major social awareness campaign under ‘Atithi Devo Bhav initiative
Marketing, Branding & Promotion

* Developing new markets – CIS, ASEAN, Middle East and African countries * Opening new representative offices overseas for wider reach * Developing and promoting new tourism products * Golf Polo, Wellness & Medical, MICE, Caravan, Cruise, Adventure and Wildlife tourism.
Taxation

Currently the taxes levied on tourism sector are very high. To get the maximum dividends from tourism taxes levied on tourism industry should be unified, rationalised and made globally competitive.

Convergence

As tourism is a multi-sectorial activity, active convergence in the resources of various sectors involved in promotion of tourism at Central and State level is necessary for achieving the optimum results. For achieving the best results in Convergence, following measures will be required:-

* A Committee may be constituted under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister with members from concerned Ministries such as Culture, Civil Aviation, Road Transport & Highways, Urban Development, etc. * A Committee may be constituted in each State/UTs under the Chairmanship of Chief Ministers/Administrator with members from concerned Ministries of the State Government/UT Administrations.

Involvement of States/UTs in Tourism Development

* Active involvement of States pre-requisite for integrated tourism development through convergence * MOT in association with ASSOCHAM, CII, FICCI, PHDCCI, ICC to undertake efforts to increase States awareness of potential of tourism in economic development and employment generation. * States to identify infrastructure gaps for tourist destination and ensure intervention at CM level making it a political agenda * States should promote sustainable, safe and honorarium tourism.
Land for Tourism Sector

Land required for * Hotels * Convention/Exhibition Centre * Theme parks * Composite Heats * On the pattern of land allotted to industry * Land be given on Revenue Sharing basis * Higher FAR for hotels To enable the MOT to implement various proposed strategies during 12th Plan period, its plan outlay would require substantial augmentation. The requirement of fund for the Ministry of Tourism during 12th Plan has been tentatively estimated to be about Rs. 21500 crore as against the allocation of Rs. 5156 crore during 11th Plan Substantial proportion of the estimated outlay is proposed to be allocated for improvement of tourism infrastructure, human resource development & capacity building and promotion & Publicity.

The priority of the Ministry of Tourism is to create/develop tourism related infrastructure for generation of employment opportunities so as to contribute to the growth of the country economy. Efforts are also being made to include tourism in the curriculum for the 10+2 with the help of Ministry of Human Resources Development so that the Generation Next not only becomes aware of the issues but is also ready to take on the challenges in the tourism sector.
Factors Affecting Tourism Greater flexibility of booking –internet, teletext, call Centre (TREND)

Mr. Harrold, newspaper writer said 'these key areas are changing people’s everyday lives and travel companies must consider how to develop their own mobile offerings and to tailor holiday offerings to different types of families'. Booking over the internet, teletext and through call centres makes it possible to do in your own time 24hours a day, its easier and quicker for most people, and also a lot cheaper than if you was to book in a travel agents. This would affect the travel and tourism industry as more and more people are using the internet rather than going into travel agents in which travel agents will be losing money and in the future they most probably won’t be a lot of travel agents around. This would also save the industry money if the travel agents shut down as most people just use the online travel agents. Tour Operators are also selling holidays directly to customers and Thomas Cook is planning to shut a lot of High Street agencies, this means that a lot of staff will be mad redundant.

Growth and Expansion of Regional Airports

The growth of regional airports in the UK has increased as little airports start off with very low prices for example, to land the aircraft and for it to be parked up on the tarmac, and with low prices airlines are more likely to use these such as easy jet as its a low cost airline this helps the airport expand as more and more people would choose to fly from there. In the past 10 years all airports in the UK are major airports and have expanded, figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) show that the number of passengers using regional airports in the UK rose to 98 million in 2006 - up from 95 million in 2005. In Manchester airport per day around 850 planes land and take-off which are probably mostly charter flights which take-off on a certain day at a certain time every day or week. this will affect the travel industry as more and more people are taking flights as there a more airports for example if there was not an airport in Manchester fewer people would travel as they don’t want to travel far to regional airports. With the expansion of airports more planes can land as there’s more space so that gives us more opportunities and gives people better services as the airports have grown.

More Independent Travelers

Nowadays independent travelling is becoming more and more common as people use the internet in the search of cheaper holidays, organising your lights and accommodation separately is all well and good so long as everything runs smoothly. There are more independent travellers recently as its a lot easier, quicker and cheaper to book your own accommodation, flights and ancillaries, the only bad thing is that if you book them separately you are not covered for things like the ash cloud unlike if you was to book a package holiday. More independent travellers go on long-haul flights for things like business trips. This will affect the travel industry as more and more people are travelling independently for things like business trips and trips for example mountain biking, in which tour operators will lose money as people are more likely to book the trips and excursions separately which won’t be ATOL protected.

Natural Disasters

There are many natural disasters that can affect us such as, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, tornados, and flooding. Natural disasters have a major effect on the travel industry for example, a volcano which erupted on the 14th April 2010 which made all flights in Europe at a huge standstill " Even though it was a relatively small volcanic eruption, it caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over an initial period of six days in April 2010" but although the airspace was closed tourism was still bringing money into the tourism industry as people still needed somewhere to stay, food and drink, entertainment etc. If you booked a package holiday you wouldn’t have to pay any extra money to stay at the hotel whilst the airspace was closed, but if you booked separately you would have had to pay more to book another room but claimed it back on insurance if you had it. This will affect the travel industry as they lose massive amounts of money when a natural disaster happens for example no planes in Europe would leave the ground for 6 days through the ash cloud in which is costing the airlines masses amount of money as they have to pay to on the ground and have to put all their customers that are stranded in accommodations, in which sometimes puts people off traveling.

Cost of travel and the Recession

The cost of travel recently is increasing as the UK is in a recession in which the UK's economy has not a lot of money and all the prices have risen and people are not getting as much money as they used to, people recently are only having a holiday abroad once a year as family’s are getting less money than they used to for example in 2007 family’s generally took 2 or more holidays whether it was domestic or outbound. This will affect the industry as more and more people are only taking holidays once a year in which the industry will be losing money through the recession in which before the recession people usually took 2 or more trips which would have brought lots of money in, Also it has a positive effect on domestic tourists as there more likely to go on holiday in the UK.

Epidemics and Pandemics

A pandemic covers a much wider area often worldwide, a Pandemic also infects many more people than an epidemic. There has been plenty of pandemics over the years for example plague, HIV/aids, black death, cholera etc.. For example in 2009 when swine flu hit the UK ' Outbreaks of flu tend to follow certain patterns. Every year, the number of flu cases rise during winter - this is seasonal flu. If a lot of people are affected, it may be said to be an epidemic. About one per cent of those affected are likely to die, usually owing to complications such as a secondary bacterial Infection of the lungs.'

An epidemic is when the number of people who become infected rises well beyond what is expected within a country or a part of a country. When the infection takes place in several countries at the same time it then starts turning into a pandemic, and rises well beyond what is expected within a country or part of the country. However this would stop people from wanting to travel to places that are affected by swine flu in which the tourism industry would lose a lot of money as people was cancelling trips and holidays in the places that was infected and people wouldn’t book holidays there in which the industry would be losing money.
History of COX and KINGS Cox & Kings (India) was incorporated as ‘Eastern Carrying Company’ on June 7, 1939 under the Indian Companies Act, VII of 1913. The name was subsequently changed to ‘Cox and Kings (India) Limited’ and the consequent fresh Certificate of Incorporation was granted on February 23, 1950. Subsequently, after the amendment of Section 43A of the Companies Act 1956, the word “Private” was added to the name of the Company on October 12, 2001. Pursuant to a special resolution of its shareholders, the Company became a public limited company and a fresh Certificate of Incorporation with the current name was issued on March 28, 2007 by the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra at Mumbai. Cox & Kings is the longest established travel company in the world. Its distinguished history began in 1758 when it was appointed as general agents to the regiment of Foot Guards in India under the command of Lord Ligonier. The company is one of the oldest and recognised holiday brands that cater to the overall travel needs of an Indian and International traveller. It is one of the India’s largest tour and travel operator that serve as a ‘One Stop Shop’ for all travel and travel related products.

Its business can be broadly categorised as Leisure Travel, Corporate Travel, Forex and Visa Processing. The company design travel packages for both individuals and groups for their domestic and international leisure travel. It makes travel arrangements for corporate clients to cater to their business meetings, conferences, events and as an incentive for their employees and business partners. It provide end to end travel solutions including land, air and cruise bookings, hotel bookings, in–transit arrangements, local sightseeing, visa, passport and medical insurance assistance and such other destination management services. It also provide value added services viz., customising travel plans for its NRI customers, travel arrangements for Trade Fairs, providing private air charter services, etc. Besides, it offer travel related foreign exchange & payment solutions. In fact, it is are one of the first travel companies in India to be granted a license as an Authorized Dealer –Category II under the new licensing regime.

Within Leisure Travel it has three sub–segments i.e. Outbound Travel, Inbound Travel and Domestic Travel. Its Inbound Travel business represents destination management services that cover all aspects of ground tour arrangements required by tour operators across the world. Its Domestic and Outbound Travel businesses include selling holiday packages for travel in India and overseas respectively. Under Corporate Travel it offer a full range of business travel services through a team of dedicated relationship managers. It offer customized business travel solutions for corporate clients with an endeavour to optimize their travel budget.

It continuously innovated its product offerings with the flexibility to meet the changing needs of its customers and to address their needs better. This also helps it to differentiate the products vis–a–vis the products offered by the competitors. Thus, over the years it have developed specific brands for its products viz. “Duniya Dekho” for Outbound Travel, “Bharat Deko” for Domestic Travel and “FlexiHol” for its Flexible Individual Travellers (FIT). The company believes that its success in branding its products has created more awareness amongst travellers and has also helped a traveller in distinguishing and identifying its branded products.

In India, it has 255 points of presence covering 164 locations through a mix of branch sales offices, franchised sales shops, General Sales Agents (GSAs) and Preferred Sales Agents (PSAs). It has 14 branch sales offices located in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Pune, Nagpur and Goa. Besides, it also operates through its 56 franchised sales shops spread across India to have larger access to its customers. Further, it has an extensive network of 185 GSAs and PSAs covering many of the major towns and cities of India. GSAs / PSAs are those agents who sell only its products through an exclusive tie–up with it.

It has global presence with its operations in 18 countries besides India through its subsidiaries, branch offices and representative offices. It have its subsidiaries in UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, US, UAE and Singapore. It also operate from Moscow (Russia), Maldives and Tahiti through its branch offices and Spain, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France, Taiwan, South America and South Africa through its representative offices. Further, it has presence in overseas markets through a network of GSAs and PSAs covering other countries enhancing its global presence. Its global reach and passion for travel position us well to offer multiple travel choices and value for its products.

In March 2006, it acquired the entire shareholding of Clearmine Limited, a company incorporated in the UK. ETN Services Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clearmine Limited and it carries out destination management services for its tours to Europe and also inbound tours in Europe for other tour operators. In September 2007, it acquired the entire shareholding of Cox & Kings Limited based in UK and took over 41.17% of the share capital of Cox & Kings (Japan) Limited. Cox & Kings Travel Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox & Kings Limited, is an outbound specialist tour operator and caters to leisure travel market of Europe. Cox & Kings Travel Limited and Cox & Kings Tours LLC holds 33.33% and 25.50% respectively of Cox & Kings (Japan) Limited. Cox & Kings (Japan) Limited is a dedicated wholesaler of products and services to other tour operators. It also offers ground handling capabilities in select geographies.

In 2009 acquired Quoprro Global Services Pvt. Ltd. and forayed into the business of visa processing. Globally visa processing activities have been concentrated amongst few players and through this acquisition it would explore the potential in this business. In September 2008, it got an approval from The High Commission of India at Singapore for outsourcing their visa processing activities to us. Recently, it got further in–principle approvals from the diplomatic missions of India at Athens, Greece and at Hong Kong for outsourcing their visa processing activities to us.

In December 2008 it formed a Joint Venture with IRCTC under the name of “Royale Indian Rail Tours Limited” to operate a luxury train to be called “Maharajas’ Express”. Considering this JV to be a first ‘Private Public Partnership’, this can be viewed as a landmark in the growth of luxury tourism in India. The combined strength of IRCTC in rail based tourism and hospitality and its in high–end international tourism, would make this a state of the art luxury train. While IRCTC will be involved in the operations, it will leverage its overseas offices to market the product globally. In December 2009 'Cox & Kings (Australia) Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Cox and Kings (India) acquires 100% stake in My Planet Australia Pty Ltd and Bentours International Pty Ltd, Australia'. The company approved change of its name from 'Cox and Kings (India) Ltd' to 'Cox & Kings Ltd' on August 2010. In 2011 Cox & Kings acquired Holiday break PLC.

Service offering of the company:

The principal services offered by the company are: * Destination Management * Outbound Tourism * Business Travel * Incentive & Conference Solutions * Domestic Holidays * NRI * Trade Fairs * Foreign Exchange * Insurance
Leisure Travel – The leisure travel market in India is highly fragmented. It is are amongst the largest players in the segment of leisure travel. It offers products that are either pre–packaged through brochures or tailor–made as per the requirements of a group and an individual traveller. Leisure Travel can be Outbound, Inbound or Domestic. It was amongst the first travel organizations to brand its Outbound and Domestic Tours. Leisure Travel contributes majority of its total business and earns us relatively better margins. * Outbound Travel * Inbound Travel * Domestic Travel * Train Tours
Group Tours – It operates Group Tours in all our divisions i.e. Outbound, Inbound and Domestic. Each tour is different in the number of days and destinations. All the tours are pre–planned i.e. the dates of departures and arrivals are fixed in advance for all the tours.
Flexible Individual Travellers (FIT)– Under FITs it provides customized holidays which have flexibility and are designed to suit the customer needs unlike group tours which are standard in nature. It believe this product though complex has good demand and requires better planning and execution to meet individual needs.

Trade Fairs – It also organizes group tours for Trade Fairs in countries outside India. Trade Fairs for different industries are organized all round the year at different places and it take participants in such trade fairs with a customised itinerary for their entire schedule. For the Trade Fairs organised by us, it arrange for every need including accommodation, city tours to technical add–ons such as factory visits, buyer–seller meets and an array of value–added services handling the most complex and exacting business trips anywhere in the world.

Foreign Exchange – It is amongst the leading retail forex dealers in the country. It was granted Full Fledged Money Changer (“FFMC”) license by the RBI in 1996. Subsequently, RBI introduced a new concept, of Authorised Dealer – Category II and commenced licensing certain select FFMC's as Authorised Dealer – Category II based on their net worth, Know Your Customer norms and implementation of Anti–Money Laundering policies. It was were one of the first travel companies to be granted the license as the Authorised Dealer – Category II under the new licensing regime.

Visa Processing Services – Quoprro Global Services Pvt. Ltd., its wholly owned subsidiary located in Mumbai, functions exclusively as an outsourced business solution to provide comprehensive processing services to diplomatic missions. Diplomatic missions world over are keen to outsource the time consuming administrative, non–judgemental parts of the passport and visa application process. As a core business, Quoprro Global is extremely well placed to address this need while focusing and addressing the concerns regarding security, integrity, speed and efficacy on the outsourced solution of the business.
Cox & Kings Travel Ltd. is an outbound specialist tour operator and caters to only the leisure travel market. It concentrates on the up–market end of the business. It is considered as a specialist tour operator which also operates tours around the world like to India, Africa, Far East, Middle East, Latin America, Australia and Europe.

Brand portfolio

The company sells its travel and travel related products under these brands: * Duniya Dekho * Bharat Deko * Flexihol for Flexible Individual Travellers * Luxary Escapades * Anand Yatra * Mice– Meetings, Incentives, Conferences Events * Cox & Kings Trade Fairs
Awards and Recognition: * Ranked No.1 as “Top Brands in India” for the year 2008 based on a survey conducted by research agency, TNS and co–funded by Media magazine, also ranked 152 in Asia Pacific’s Top 1000 Brands 2008 covering countries like Australia, China, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. * “Best Domestic Tour Operator” awarded by Galileo Express Travel World Awards (2008) * “Best Visual Advertising Campaign” awarded by Galileo Express Travel World Awards (2008) * “World Travel Market Global Award” to Mr. Ajay Ajit Peter Kerkar, Global CEO, Cox and Kings for his remarkable contribution to the travel and tourism industry (2008). * Ranked amongst the Top 15 Tour Operators – Readers’ Travel Awards 2008, Conde Nast Traveller (2008) * “Best Self Drive Brochure” by Tourism New Zealand Asia Awards (2008) * “Most Preferred Tour Operator Award” by CNBC Travel Awards (2007) * “Best Outbound Tour Operator” by TAFI–abacus Awards for Business Leadership in Tour Operating (2007) * “Best Domestic Tour Operator” by TAFI–abacus Awards for Business Leadership in Tour Operating (2007) * “Best Technology Programme” by Galileo Express Travel Awards (2005–2006) * 'Best Domestic Tour Operator' for consecutive 3 years by Galileo Express Travel World Awards (2003–2004, 2004–2005 and 2005–2006) * “Best Domestic Tour Operator' for consecutive 3 years by National Tourism Awards, Government of India, Department of Tourism (2003–2004, 2004–2005 and 2005–2006) * “Best Conference Agency' for 7 times by National Tourism Awards for being the awarded by Government of India, Department of Tourism (1995–1996, 1998–1999, 1999–2000, 2000–2001, 2001–2002, 2002–2003 and 2003–2004) * 'Best Outbound Tour Operator’ by Galileo Express Travel Awards (2002–2003)

Financial Statements

Report on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying financial statements of COX & KINGS LIMITED ("the Company"), which comprise the Balance Sheet as at 31st March, 2014, and the Statement of Profit and Loss and the Cash Flow Statement for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

Management's Responsibility for the Financial Statements

Management is responsible for the preparation of these financial statements that give a true and fair view of the financial position, financial performance and cash flows of the Company in accordance with the Accounting Standards referred to in sub–section (3C) of section 211 of the Companies Act, 1956 ("the Act") read with the General Circular 15/2013 dated 13th September, 2013 of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in respect of Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013. This responsibility includes the design, implementation and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and presentation of the financial statements that give a true and fair view and are free from material mis–statement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor's Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with the Standards on Auditing issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Those Standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material mis–statement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor's judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material mis–statement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the Company's preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion

Opinion

In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us, the financial statements give the information required by the Act in the manner so required and give a true and fair view in conformity with the accounting principles generally accepted in India: (a) In the case of the Balance Sheet, of the state of affairs of the Company as at 31st March, 2014; (b) In the case of the Statement of Profit and Loss, of the Profit for the year ended on that date; and (c) In the case of the Cash Flow Statement, of the cash flows for the year ended on that date.

Report on Other Legal and Regulatory Requirements

1. As required by the Companies (Auditor's Report) Order, 2003 ("the Order") issued by the Central Government of India in terms of sub–section (4A) of section 227 of the Act, we give in the Annexure a statement on the matters specified in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Order. 2. As required by section 227(3) of the Act, we report that: a. We have obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purpose of our audit; b. In our opinion proper books of account as required by law have been kept by the Company so far as appears from our examination of those books; c. The Balance Sheet, Statement of Profit and Loss, and Cash Flow Statement dealt with by this Report are in agreement with the books of account; d. In our opinion, the Balance Sheet, the Profit and Loss statement comply with the accounting standards notified under the Companies Act, 1956 read with the General Circular 15/2013 dated 13th September, 2013 of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in respect of Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013. e. On the basis of written representations received from the directors as on 31st March, 2014, and taken on record by the Board of Directors, none of the directors are disqualified as on 31st March, 2014, from being appointed as a director in terms of clause (g) of subsection (1) of section 274 of the Companies Act, 1956.

Annexure referred to the Auditors' Report

1. a) The Company has maintained proper records showing full particulars, including quantitative details and situation of fixed assets. b) As explained to us, all the fixed assets have been physically verified by the management in a phased periodical manner, which in our opinion is reasonable, having regard to the size of the Company and nature of its assets. No material discrepancies were noticed on such physical verification. c) In our opinion, the Company has not disposed off substantial part of its fixed assets during the year and the going concern status of the Company is not affected. 2. In respect of its inventories: a) The inventory has been physically verified during the year by the management. In our opinion, the frequency of verification is reasonable. b) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the procedures of physical verification of inventories followed by the management are reasonable and adequate in relation to the size of the Company and the nature of its business. c) The Company has maintained proper records of inventory. As explained to us, there were no material discrepancies noticed on physical verification of inventory as compared to the book records. 3. In respect of loans, secured or unsecured, granted or taken by the company to/from companies, firms or parties covered in the register maintained under section 301 of the Companies Act, 1956: a) The Company has granted unsecured loan to twelve wholly owned subsidiaries and four other parties covered in the register maintained under section 301 of the Companies Act, 1956. In respect of the said loan, the maximum amount outstanding at any time during the year is Rs. 99,110 Lacs and the year end balance is Rs. 31,557 Lacs. b) According to the information and explanations given to us, the rate of interest (where stipulated) and other terms and conditions of such loans are prima facie not prejudicial to the interest of the Company. c) In respect of the said loans, the principal amounts are repayable on demand and there is no repayment schedule. The interest is payable on demand.
d) In respect of the said loans and interest thereon, the same are repayable on demand or as the case may be, have not become due, therefore the question of overdue amount does not arise. e) The Company has not taken any loan, secured or unsecured from companies, firms and other parties covered in the Register maintained under Section 301 of the Companies Act, 1956. Therefore, the requirement of Clauses (iii)(f) and (iii)(g) of paragraph 4 of the said Order are not applicable. 4. In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, there is an adequate internal control system commensurate with the size of the Company and the nature of its business for the purchase of inventory and fixed assets and also for the sale of services. During the course of our audit, no major weakness has been noticed in the internal control system in respect of these areas. 5. In respect of contracts or arrangements referred to in section 301 of the Companies Act, 1956. a) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the transactions made in pursuance of contracts or arrangements that need to be entered in the register maintained under section 301 of the companies Act 1956 have been so entered. b) In our opinion and according to the information and explanations given to us, the transactions made in pursuance of contracts or arrangements entered in Register maintained under section 301 of the Companies Act, 1956 and exceeding the value of Rs. 5,00,000 in respect of each party during the year have been made at prices which appear reasonable as per information available with the company except certain transactions which are of specialized or unique nature for which no comparable quotes are available. 6. According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has not accepted any deposit from the public. Therefore, the provisions of Clause (vi) of paragraph 4 of the Order are not applicable to the Company. 7. In our opinion, the Company has an internal audit system commensurate with the size and nature of its business. 8. To the best of our knowledge and according to the information and explanation provided to us, the Central Government has not prescribed the maintenance of cost records under Section 209 (1) (d) of the Companies Act, 1956 for the services rendered by the Company. 9. In respect of statutory dues: a) According to the records of the Company, except for some instances of delay in payment of TDS and Service Tax, undisputed statutory dues including Provident Fund, Investor Education and Protection Fund, Employees' State Insurance, Income–tax, Sales–tax, Wealth Tax, Customs Duty, Excise Duty, Cess and any other statutory dues, have been generally regularly deposited with the appropriate authorities According to the information and explanations given to us, no undisputed amounts payable in respect of the aforesaid dues were outstanding as at 31st March, 2014 for a period of more than six months. 10. The Company does not have accumulated losses at the end of the financial year. The Company has not incurred cash losses during the financial year covered by the audit and in the immediately preceding financial year. 11. Based on our audit procedures and according to the information and explanations given to us, we are of the opinion that the Company has not defaulted in repayment of dues to financial institutions, banks or debenture holders. 12. In our opinion and according to the explanations given to us and based on the information available, no loans and advances have been granted by the company on the basis of security by way of pledge of shares, debentures and other securities. 13. In our opinion, the Company is not a chit fund or a nidhi/ mutual benefit fund/ society. Therefore, the provisions of Clause 4 (xiii) of the Order are not applicable to the Company. 14. The Company has maintained proper records of transactions and contracts in respect of dealing and trading in investments and timely entries have been made therein. All the investments have been held by the Company in its own name. 15. According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has given the guarantees for loans taken by its wholly owned subsidiaries from bank and/ or financial institutions. In our opinion and according to information and explanations given to us, the terms and conditions thereof, are not prejudicial to the interest of the company. 16. The term loan taken during the year has been applied for the purposes for which they were raised. 17. According to the information and explanation given to us and on an overall examination of the Balance Sheet of the Company, we are of the opinion that there are no funds raised on short –term basis that have been used for long term investment. 18. The Company has not made any preferential allotment of shares to parties and companies covered in the Register maintained under section 301 of the Companies Act, 1956. 19. According to the information and explanations given to us, the Company has created securities/charges in respect of secured debentures issued except in respect of certain debentures issued in March 2014 for which creation of security is in process. 20. The Company has not raised any monies during the year by way of the public issues. 21. Based upon the audit procedures performed for the purpose of reporting the true and fair view of the financial statements and as per the information and explanations given by the management, we report that no fraud on or by the Company has been noticed or reported during the year.

Balance Sheet Rs (in Crores) | Particulars | Mar'14 | Mar'13 | Mar'12 | Mar'11 | Mar'10 | Liabilities | 12 Months | 12 Months | 12 Months | 12 Months | 12 Months | Share Capital | 68.26 | 68.26 | 68.26 | 68.26 | 62.92 | Reserves & Surplus | 1161.62 | 1070.56 | 1033.10 | 988.94 | 636.02 | Net Worth | 1229.88 | 1138.82 | 1101.36 | 1057.20 | 698.94 | Secured Loan | 442.64 | 427.27 | 803.26 | 120.08 | 145.67 | Unsecured Loan | 175.00 | 100.00 | 355.00 | 300.00 | 90.00 | TOTAL LIABILITIES | 1847.52 | 1666.09 | 2259.62 | 1477.28 | 934.61 | Assets | Gross Block | 161.16 | 135.94 | 92.90 | 58.41 | 44.29 | (-) Acc. Depreciation | 52.23 | 37.63 | 23.48 | 26.74 | 24.94 | Net Block | 108.93 | 98.31 | 69.42 | 31.68 | 19.34 | Capital Work in Progress | 69.15 | 65.17 | 58.90 | 36.44 | 7.34 | Investments | 174.99 | 143.27 | 125.19 | 283.01 | 323.41 | Inventories | 4.22 | 6.15 | 5.07 | 7.20 | 5.58 | Sundry Debtors | 654.48 | 473.79 | 374.15 | 255.25 | 209.03 | Cash and Bank | 249.13 | 270.82 | 321.90 | 505.68 | 201.06 | Loans and Advances | 1001.43 | 968.73 | 1520.96 | 477.45 | 262.51 | Total Current Assets | 1909.26 | 1719.49 | 2222.08 | 1245.59 | 678.18 | Current Liabilities | 350.58 | 341.15 | 198.09 | 104.10 | 77.07 | Provisions | 64.23 | 19.00 | 17.88 | 15.33 | 16.59 | Total Current Liabilities | 414.81 | 360.15 | 215.97 | 119.43 | 93.66 | NET CURRENT ASSETS | 1494.45 | 1359.34 | 2006.11 | 1126.15 | 584.52 | Misc. Expenses | .00 | .00 | .00 | .00 | .00 | TOTAL ASSETS(A+B+C+D+E) | 1847.52 | 1666.09 | 2259.62 | 1477.28 | 934.61 | SWOT:

Strengths: * Strong Brand Value * International Market Presence * Strong segmental performance * Wide Distribution Network * Asset-light model * Relationship with key suppliers * Delivering high quality customer service * Trained Professional Staff Strength Weakness: * Substantial investment needed to compete with International firms entering Indian market through tie-ups or buy-out of local firms. * Premium products brand image would affect adversely in competition with cheaper operators or charters. * Industry move towards more direct distribution and reduced commissions. Opportunity: * Franchisee network to penetrate smaller cities with untapped propensity to travel. * Wider reach through net enabled sales. * Acquisitions within the industry to provide significant synergies and economies of scale. Threats: * Tourist flow is highly sensitive to adverse Political, natural, economic events. * Increase in tax incidence on industry. * Existing Regulatory framework and changes regarding registrations, disclosures and state funds affect C&K as well their suppliers including CRS companies.