Brands
Cleartrip hijacks your Google Calendar to stop you missing long weekends
MUMBAI: Long weekends are meant for escape. Instead, they slip by unnoticed, buried under emails and spreadsheets. Cleartrip has a fix: hack the very tool that schedules your drudgery.
The Indian online travel agent has launched its Long Weekend Tracker, an industry-first feature that maps every extended break in 2026 directly onto Google Calendar. The campaign promises to ambush travellers with reminders two to three weeks before each long weekend, turning hustle tools into holiday tools.
The logic is simple. Everyone romanticises long weekends, few plan for them. By integrating travel prompts into one of the world’s most-used productivity apps, Cleartrip plants itself at the exact moment intent forms. Calendar events include embedded links to flights, buses and hotels, letting users move from daydream to booking with a single tap.
“We want travel to stay on your mind all year, not just when leaves pile up or life becomes unbearable,” said Govind Bansal, head of marketing at Cleartrip. “Even if travellers forget, Cleartrip won’t, because we won’t let you escape a great escape from your daily routine.”
March 2026 has the most long weekends, making it prime season for getaways, whether short bus trips or longer international flights. By owning long weekends as a planning trigger, Cleartrip is betting it can shift behaviour from reactive to proactive, building consideration across its entire platform.
The tracker works in four steps: download Google Calendar, click Cleartrip’s link (https://cleartrip-web.app. Cleartrip, acquired by Flipkart in 2021, recently emerged as India’s number two online travel agent. With the Long Weekend Tracker, it is positioning itself as the nudge that won’t shut up. Whether that proves helpful or annoying depends on how badly you need a holiday. Either way, your calendar now knows better than you do.
Brands
Pernod Ricard, Chivas Regal parent, in talks for possible India IPO: Bloomberg
Deliberations in early stage, with no decision taken so far
PARIS: Pernod Ricard is evaluating a potential stock market listing of its Indian business, according to a Bloomberg News report citing people familiar with the matter.
The French drinks group has begun discussions with prospective advisers to assess the feasibility and merits of a separate public listing for Pernod Ricard India. The deliberations are at an early stage and no final decision has been made.
India is one of Pernod Ricard’s most important growth markets. The company is among the country’s largest alcoholic beverage players, selling premium global brands such as Chivas Regal and Absolut Vodka, and competing closely with Diageo across premium and mass-market segments.
The reported move comes as Pernod Ricard navigates heightened regulatory scrutiny in India. The group is facing antitrust proceedings and is also contesting allegations by authorities in New Delhi over potential violations of local liquor regulations. Pernod Ricard has denied any wrongdoing.
In the market, Pernod Ricard’s Paris-listed shares are up nearly 12 per cent so far this year, valuing the group at about $24.4 billion. That recovery follows a bruising 2025, when the stock lost close to a third of its value.
A separate India listing, if it materialises, could help unlock value from a fast-growing business, even as the group works through legal and regulatory challenges in one of its most strategically important markets.
