Kesineni Travels - Closed Down

• Kesineni Travels, a 88 year old travels, was closed down by its owner Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) on Mar 31, 2017 following altercations of Nani with Transport Commissioner in Vijayawada on Mar 25, 2017 for which he was compelled to apologize by AP CM Chandra Babu Naidu. Huge accumulated losses is cited as the the underlying reason for closing down.
• Kesineni Nani is the TDP MP from Vijayawada, elected to 16th Lok Sabha in 2014. In the recent past Nani was focus of political attacks by YSRCP & TRS.
• Kesineni is one of the largest provider of Inter-City bus transportation, serving more than 75 destinations with about 425 schedules daily across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
• Kesineni Tours & Travels became an icon providing luxury travel to around 15 lakh people each year. Kesineni is well known brand in South India.
• Nani's grandfather Sri Kesineni Venkaiah, the first and foremost bus operator in Andhra Pradesh, since 1928. Its initial operations were between Vijayawada, Guntur & Tenali.
• In 2011, Birla Institute of Management and Technology, New Delhi has chosen Kesineni Travels for study of its successful business model in the country. The institute short-listed Kesineni from among 40 such companies in the Small and Medium Enterprise sector that are managed or owned by people who had never undergone any kind of professional management training or studied such courses.
• Kesineni, at present, has about 170 luxury buses. At its peak there were over 450 buses. The sale of 170 buses is likely to yield about Rs.12 crores and about Rs. 7 crores needs to paid to employees as settlement of dues.

My View:

I traveled mostly by Kesineni between Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bangalore etc for nearly 10 years. Only once I felt let down on highway following bus break down. Unlike other operators Kesineni never charged higher rates for weekends and festivals. In the recent years buses were found to getting older and management focus drifted to other lucrative businesses like real estate & hospitality and politics. This paved way to competitors gaining consumer preference over Kesineni resulted in drooping occupancy ratio and consequent losses. Cutting edge lost, either winding up or imminent take over sooner or later. Had Nani not joined politics, his focus on business would have been intact and Kesineni Travels would have survived intense competition. Alas, employees were left helpless with three months salary paid by company.