IndiGo: Is The Truce For Real?

Is the truce between the warring co-founders of IndiGo for real?

- Manu Kaushik

In the third week of July, IndiGo reported its highest-ever quarterly profit of 1,203 crore, a staggering 4,230 per cent jump over the first quarter of last year. The strong performance came in the backdrop of the slowdown in the aviation sector as passenger growth plummeted to a multi-year low in the first six months of 2019. The airline also reported its highest ever market share of 49 per cent in quarter-ended June. All this called for a grand celebration at the Gurgaon-headquartered carrier that has grown from a single aircraft to over 238 in just over a dozen years. But the euphoria was clouded by the bitter fight between the friends-turned-foes co-founders – Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia – mainly over the latter’s unequal rights and powers and the controversial related party transactions between Bhatia’s private firm InterGlobe Enterprises (IGE Group) and IndiGo.