India’s travel industry is entering a new phase of digital transformation, one where the focus is shifting from simply selling tickets to delivering personalised, end-to-end travel experiences. As airlines increasingly embrace New Distribution Capability (NDC), the country’s mature digital infrastructure, evolving consumer behaviour, and rapid adoption of AI-powered travel planning tools are creating the ideal conditions for a widespread NDC revolution.
India’s broader digital economy has laid the foundation for this transition. According to Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, India’s internet economy is projected to reach nearly US$1 trillion by 2030, underscoring the country’s accelerating digital adoption across industries. At the same time, the Government of India reports that UPI processed more than 24,162 crore transactions during FY 2025-26, highlighting how digital discovery, comparison, and instant payments have become an integral part of everyday consumer behaviour.
Travel has naturally evolved alongside these broader trends. Today’s travellers expect far more than the lowest airfare—they seek convenience, transparency, flexibility, and personalised experiences. Digital platforms have fundamentally changed how travel decisions are made, with consumers researching extensively before making bookings.
A Google-commissioned Kantar study found that 68% of surveyed Indian travellers use YouTube for travel inspiration, illustrating how digital content now influences purchase decisions long before travellers reach the booking stage. Meanwhile, the How India Travels 2025 report by Booking.com and Accenture reveals that nearly 80% of Indian travellers consider accommodation central to their overall travel experience, signalling a shift towards more holistic travel planning rather than isolated bookings.
Artificial intelligence is accelerating this evolution further. AI-powered search, recommendation engines, and conversational travel assistants are enabling travellers to search using highly specific preferences, whether it’s selecting flexible fares, preferred baggage allowances, seat configurations, loyalty benefits, or bundled travel experiences. Meeting these increasingly granular customer expectations requires richer and more structured airline content than traditional distribution systems were designed to provide.
It is in this context that NDC emerges as a strategic necessity rather than merely another technology upgrade.
Jerrin Jos, Founder & CEO, said: “India is well placed for an NDC shift because its travel ecosystem is now part of a much larger digital commerce transformation. Google, Temasek, and Bain project India’s internet economy to reach nearly US$1 trillion by 2030, while Government of India data shows UPI processed over 24,162 crore transactions in FY 2025-26. This reflects a market where digital discovery, comparison, and real-time transactions are already everyday behaviour.
“Travel buying has changed in the same direction. Indian travellers are no longer just buying a seat or a room; they are looking for value, choice, flexibility, and a more complete experience. With AI-powered search and recommendation tools becoming part of the planning journey, sellers need access to richer, more structured airline content to respond to increasingly specific customer intent. This makes NDC highly relevant. For airlines, it enables richer offers, branded fares, ancillaries, and more personalised propositions. For OTAs, it creates room to differentiate beyond price. For TMCs, it helps present corporate travellers with clearer choices around flexibility, inclusions, and policy compliance. For consolidators and offline agencies, it provides access to richer airline content that helps them remain competitive.”
NDC enables airlines to distribute richer product content directly to travel sellers, allowing them to showcase branded fares, ancillary services, bundled offers, loyalty benefits, and personalised pricing more effectively. This creates opportunities for online travel agencies (OTAs) to compete on customer experience instead of engaging solely in price-based competition. Corporate travel management companies (TMCs) can also offer clearer visibility into fare flexibility, travel policies, and value-added services, while consolidators and offline agencies gain access to more comprehensive airline content that strengthens their competitiveness.
However, the transition also carries strategic implications. As more airlines prioritise NDC-enabled distribution, travel sellers that delay adoption may gradually lose access to differentiated fares, exclusive ancillary products, and the most relevant airline content. In a market as dynamic and competitive as India, this could affect both customer experience and long-term business growth.
With India’s digital payments ecosystem, AI adoption, internet penetration, and digitally savvy travellers all moving in the same direction, the country possesses many of the ingredients necessary for large-scale NDC adoption. Rather than representing a distant industry trend, the shift towards NDC increasingly appears to be the natural next step in India’s ongoing travel technology evolution.
