India’s Corporate Travel Revolution: Digital Adoption Soars, But a Payment Paradox Remains 

Based on a 2025 GBTA-Visa survey, India’s corporate travel sector is undergoing a significant digital transformation, with a strong majority of travel managers adopting online booking tools (76%) and expense management systems (91%); however, this rapid tech adoption contrasts sharply with a persistent “payment paradox,” where the use of corporate payment methods like cards and central accounts remains inconsistent and low, largely due to hurdles in issuance and merchant acceptance, creating a critical gap that prevents travel programs from achieving full maturity and a closed-loop, efficient ecosystem.

India’s Corporate Travel Revolution: Digital Adoption Soars, But a Payment Paradox Remains 

A quiet revolution is reshaping the landscape of Indian corporate travel. For years, the sector was characterized by a reliance on personal relationships, phone calls to trusted travel agents, and manual, paper-laden expense reporting. But as a new survey from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and Visa reveals, this legacy model is rapidly giving way to a new, digital-first paradigm—albeit with one critical piece of the puzzle still missing. 

The 2025 GBTA-Visa survey of 157 Indian travel managers paints a picture of a market in rapid transition. The findings reveal a nation leaping headfirst into online booking and expense management tools, demonstrating a maturity that rivals global standards. However, this digital embrace has a glaring gap: the inconsistent and lagging adoption of corporate payment methods. This disconnect between travel management and payment management is the central story of India’s corporate travel evolution, creating both immense opportunities and significant challenges for businesses operating in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. 

The Great Digital Leap Forward: From Assisted to Automated 

The most striking finding from the survey is the wholesale adoption of self-service technology. A remarkable 76% of respondents now use an Online Booking Tool (OBT), and an even more impressive 91% utilize an expense management system. This represents a profound cultural and operational shift. 

Understanding the “Why” Behind the Numbers 

India’s “past reliance on offline, assisted booking practices,” as the survey notes, was rooted in several factors: complex multi-city itineraries, a preference for personalized service, and a need to navigate a vast and varied transportation and accommodation network. The surge in OBT adoption signals a fundamental change in these dynamics. 

• The Rise of a Tech-Savvy Workforce: A new generation of Indian professionals, weaned on smartphones and seamless app-based services, expects the same frictionless experience in their business tools. They don’t want to call an agent; they want to book, change, and manage their trips with a few clicks. 

• The Drive for Efficiency and Cost Control: For travel managers, OBTs are not just about convenience; they are powerful engines for policy enforcement and cost savings. They ensure travelers book within preferred vendor agreements, and they provide a treasure trove of data for negotiating better rates with airlines and hotels. 

• The Pandemic as an Accelerant: The COVID-19 crisis underscored the non-negotiable need for visibility and duty of care. When travel ground to a halt and then sputtered back to life, knowing exactly where employees were and being able to rebook them instantly became paramount. This drove the adoption of risk-management technology, which 63% of Indian travel managers have now deployed. 

This trifecta of OBTs, expense systems, and traveler tracking represents the core of a modern, data-driven travel program. India is not just catching up; in many respects, it is positioning itself at the forefront. 

The Corporate Payment Paradox: A Barrier to True Program Maturity 

While the digital tools for booking and expensing are widely embraced, the survey reveals a puzzling and problematic lag in the adoption of modern payment methods. This is the “payment paradox”: a highly automated process that is still funded through fragmented, manual, and inefficient means. 

The data tells a clear story: 

• Just over half (~51%) use corporate cards. 

• Only 30% use Central Travel Accounts (CTAs). 

• A significant 30% use no corporate payment method at all for domestic travel. 

• Emerging solutions like virtual cards and prepaid cards linger in niche adoption at just 7% each. 

This creates a cascade of operational inefficiencies. When employees pay out-of-pocket for flights, hotels, and meals, they are effectively giving the company an interest-free loan. They then spend hours compiling physical receipts and filling out expense reports, which then require finance teams to spend days verifying, processing, and reimbursing. This process is fraught with potential for errors, policy violations, and even fraud. 

The Root Causes: Issuance and Acceptance 

The survey correctly identifies the two primary obstacles: “lack of issuance and limited merchant acceptance.” 

• The Issuance Hurdle: Many small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India, which form the backbone of the economy, still operate with informal financial processes. The perceived complexity of implementing a corporate card program, coupled with concerns about credit limits and employee misuse, creates a barrier to issuance. 

• The Acceptance Hurdle: Despite the rapid growth of digital payments in India, a vast portion of the merchant ecosystem, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, still operates on a cash-or-local-UPI basis. A business traveler booking a car rental or a hotel in a smaller city may find that their corporate card is simply not an option, forcing them to rely on personal funds. 

This payment gap is more than an inconvenience; it’s a strategic blind spot. Without the data generated by corporate payment solutions—be it cards, CTAs, or virtual cards—companies lack a complete, auditable record of T&E spend. This makes it difficult to analyze vendor performance, track policy compliance in real-time, and achieve the full return on investment from their sophisticated OBT and expense platforms. 

Program Maturity: Confidence vs. Reality 

Perhaps the most intriguing psychological insight from the survey is how Indian travel buyers perceive their own progress. A confident 77% rated their travel program at a seven or higher on a 10-point maturity scale. Yet, only 38% placed themselves in the top tier (9 or 10). 

This self-assessment reveals a nuanced understanding of their position. Travel managers know they have come a long way—hence the high scores—but they are also acutely aware that there is a final, crucial leg of the journey to complete. They have built the digital highway (OBTs, expense systems), but they are still dealing with the traffic jams caused by payment inefficiencies. 

A truly “mature” travel program is a closed-loop ecosystem. It starts with a policy-compliant booking in the OBT, is funded through a designated corporate payment instrument, and is automatically reconciled in the expense system with minimal manual intervention. The data from each stage feeds into the others, creating a continuous cycle of optimization, cost savings, and enhanced traveler safety. 

By this definition, a program relying on personal payments is, by its nature, incomplete. The high self-scores reflect success in the first and last parts of the cycle, but the missing middle—corporate payment—prevents the loop from closing. 

The Path Forward: Closing the Loop 

For global companies with operations in India and for Indian businesses looking to scale, the implications are clear. The next great leap in travel management efficiency lies in tackling the payment paradox head-on. 

Strategic solutions include: 

• Targeted Payment Solutions: The industry must develop and promote solutions for the Indian context. This means virtual cards designed for high-acceptance online air and hotel bookings, and prepaid cards that can be used in situations where corporate cards face acceptance issues. 

• Education and Advocacy: Travel managers need to build a compelling business case for finance departments, demonstrating how corporate payment solutions don’t just simplify life for travelers but actively save money through better data, stronger negotiating power, and the elimination of reimbursement processing costs. 

• Phased Implementation: Companies don’t need to switch overnight. A phased approach—starting with virtual cards for online bookings, then rolling out physical cards for frequent travelers, and finally implementing CTAs for high-volume vendors—can make the transition manageable. 

The GBTA-Visa survey ultimately captures India’s corporate travel industry at an inflection point. It has successfully shed its offline skin and embraced the digital tools of a modern global economy. The enthusiasm and self-confidence are warranted. Now, the focus must shift to integrating the crucial final component—streamlined corporate payment—to unlock the full potential of this dynamic and rapidly evolving market. The journey from assisted to automated is nearly complete; the final step is to move from reimbursed to pre-funded.