Photo of Swati Jadhav, Vaibhavi Shelat, Amit Baraskar and Rahul Agarwal, Thomas Cook (India) Limited and Siddharth Gupta, Bank of America.
Swati Jadhav, Vaibhavi Shelat, Amit Baraskar and Rahul Agarwal
Set up in 1881, Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL) is the leading omnichannel travel company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services including Foreign Exchange, Corporate Travel, MICE, Leisure Travel, Value Added Services, and Visa Services. It operates leading B2C and B2B brands including Thomas Cook, SOTC, TCI, SITA, Asian Trails, Allied TPro, Australian Tours Management, Desert Adventures, VTravel Circle International Limited (TCI), Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited, Distant Frontiers, TC Tours, Digiphoto Entertainment Imaging (DEI), Go Vacation, Private Safaris East & South Africa.As one of the largest travel service provider networks headquartered in the Asia Pacific region, The Thomas Cook India Group spans 28 countries across five continents.
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The challenge
Thomas Cook India leverages a uniquely structured treasury model that mirrors an investment ecosystem rather than a conventional cash function. Through its AD II license, multi-country nostro network and proprietary forex infrastructure, the treasury supports dynamic flows across 28+ geographies in 17-18 currencies – creating built‑in diversification.
The groups surplus funds scattered across 28+ geographies where the central treasury team handles companies based in India and Mauritius (the holding company for most overseas entities of the group is based out of Mauritius) end‑to-end and plays a supporting and mentoring role for rest of the geographies.
Surplus funds of the group comprising multiple currencies and geographies are naturally exposed to interest rate risk and in a year of constantly falling interest rates the impact can be severe. While many knew in 2024 that interest rates across the globe had reached a peak and were expected to come down, it was Monday October 21st 2024 where the forecasts became clear and looked negatively for all entities holding surplus monies in multiple currencies. When Thomas Cook India re-forecasted its budgets on October 21st it showed a hit to the interest income which came as a surprise.
The solution
The solution is anchored in three core asset pools:
Global Investment optimisation.
Operational surplus monetisation.
Group-wide capital deployment.
Backed by six specialists from the group treasury and forex treasury team, the renewed investment strategy enables agile decision-making, active currency risk management and cross-border efficiency – making it a compelling, self‑contained investing model within the enterprise enabling fixed income investments yielding best in class yield on a fully hedged basis.
Best practice and innovation
In response to global interest rates entering a sustained downtrend in late 2024, a high-impact investment strategy was implemented to safeguard and grow yield at more than 4% p.a. on a fully hedged basis on an investment equivalent to US$140m held across nine foreign currencies. This approach prioritised active risk management and capital optimisation under volatile monetary conditions.
With a blended average yield of more than 4% p.a. generated through this strategy as against 3.5% p.a. which the company would have achieved otherwise based on the market rates, this investment solution exemplifies disciplined treasury stewardship and agile capital allocation, positioning the organisation to withstand rate pressures in 2026 while delivering robust yield protection through 2025. It stands as a model for navigating cross-currency liquidity and interest rate risks without compromising balance sheet stability.
Key benefits
Process efficiencies.
Return on investment.
Increased automation.
Risk mitigated.
Improved visibility.
Future-proof solution.
Improved key performance indicator (KPI) metrics.
Karthik Nadadhur
Head of India Financial Institutions Group, Global Payments Solutions, Bank of America
As India’s leading integrated travel services provider, Thomas Cook has consistently embraced innovation and strategic banking partnerships to support its nationwide growth. Bank of America has been a longstanding partner, supporting Thomas Cook with comprehensive solutions across system integration, payments, banknotes and transactional FX. These tailored offerings have been instrumental in advancing Thomas Cook’s digital and omnichannel strategy – enabling engagement with digital-native customers and enhancing overall customer experience.
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