Ixigo Appoints Ameya Velankar as Group Senior Vice President – Marketing

Ixigo has appointed Ameya Velankar as Group Senior Vice President – Marketing, bringing him on board to steer the brand’s integrated marketing strategy across its travel platforms. The appointment signals a renewed push to deepen customer engagement, sharpen brand positioning, and amplify growth in India’s fast‑evolving travel‑tech market.

Velankar joins Ixigo after a nearly five‑year stint at Uber, where he served as Head of Marketing for India and South Asia. In that role, he led high‑impact, culture‑driven marketing initiatives that helped scale the brand’s presence across key mobility and lifestyle‑oriented offerings. His experience spans product marketing, growth, search engine marketing, social media, and brand development, giving him a full‑stack view of digital‑led consumer engagement.

Before Uber, Velankar built his marketing foundation at leading consumer‑products companies such as SC Johnson, Marico Limited, and RPG Enterprises, where he handled brand, category, and operations‑focused roles. This blend of FMCG and digital‑platform experience positions him well to align Ixigo’s product‑led travel solutions with mass‑market brand narratives that resonate with the “next‑billion” users.

In his new role, Velankar is expected to focus on strengthening Ixigo’s brand recall, personalising user journeys, and orchestrating cross‑channel campaigns that connect rails, flights, buses, and hotels under a unified travel‑planning umbrella. He has publicly stated that Ixigo is “rewriting the story of travel in India,” and he aims to bring consumer‑obsession, creativity, and strategic agility to the marketing function.

For Ixigo, the hire is a strategic move to keep pace with intensifying competition in online travel while staying true to its core promise of simplicity, trust, and customer‑centric innovation. With Velankar at the marketing helm, the platform is likely to lean harder into bold, insight‑driven storytelling that makes travel planning feel more intuitive, accessible, and emotionally relevant for Indian consumers.