MUMBAI, India: Concur, a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions, today announced its entry into a strategic alliance with privately held Cleartrip, India's leading online travel portal, which consists of both a marketing partnership and a $40 million strategic investment for a minority interest in Cleartrip. This alliance perfectly aligns with Concur's strategic initiatives to expand its existing customer base while also expanding into new geographic markets, including Concur's new operations in India. This partnership also provides Concur with access to enhanced travel content and technology integration between the two companies' offerings to better serve the burgeoning Indian business travel market.

"India's economy is fueling a travel sector that is expected to grow to over $20 billion by 2012," said Steve Singh, Concur's chairman and chief executive officer. "Cleartrip has established itself as a leading online travel portal serving this market. As a global technology provider, we understand that it's critical to focus on the local needs of each market in which we operate. In partnership with Cleartrip, Concur plans to leverage the synergies of our combined technologies to help us expand our offerings, extend our reach, and make business travel easier for the millions of travelers in India."

As the leader in integrated travel and expense management solutions, Concur is trusted by more than 15 million people to help them manage their business travel and expense reporting. Together with Cleartrip, Concur will enable clients to capture Cleartrip-generated travel itineraries for end-to-end travel and expense reporting within Concur's services. The companies also intend to work together to leverage specific Indian domestic travel content, including air, hotels and rail, available through Cleartrip. In conjunction with Concur's new operations in India, the company will continue to invest in all aspects of its business to support its growth plans within the region.

Sandeep Murthy, Chairman – Cleartrip said, "Cleartrip's partnership with Concur presents a very exciting strategic opportunity to better benefit the Indian business travel market. Cleartrip has built a broad and loyal base of customers who value our simple and smart approach to travel. As a strategic partner of Concur's, we will together drive this dynamic category, by helping Indian businesses of all sizes achieve new levels of efficiency in travel and expense management, through enhancements in technology and product offering as well as superior service."

About Concur

Concur® is a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions for companies of all sizes. Concur's easy-to-use web-based and mobile solutions help companies and their employees control costs and save time. Learn more at www.concur.com.

About Cleartrip

Launched in July 2006, Cleartrip is one of the leading online travel companies in India. Based on a straight forward premise of "making travel simple" for its customers, it achieves this with a clean and clutter free website, a site that is fast to load, quick in providing relevant information and simple to navigate. Cleartrip works with its extensive customer base through a variety of key channels, Cleartrip.com a dedicated consumer website, Cleartrip Agent an exclusive tool targeting India's large agency base, Cleartrip Mobile and an online corporate travel management tool Cleartrip for Business.

SOURCE Concur