Valuations clip IndiGo's wings

On cloud nine

- Manish Joshi

The Interglobe Aviation Ltd stock (IndiGo) soared to a 52-week high of ₹5,190 on Thursday on the management's upbeat commentary and growth plans.

A key highlight at its analyst day was that the air travel boom led by Mahakumbh and an extended wedding season could boost its profit in the March quarter (Q4FY25).

The quarter is likely to be better than anticipated due to higher passenger revenue per available seat kilometre (PRASK) on a 17% year-on-year growth in the number of passengers.

Since the Mahakumbh event, which began in Uttar Pradesh on 13 January, the IndiGo stock has risen by 25%.

Last year, it fetched 58% returns, beating the benchmark Nifty 50 by a wide margin.

The share surge has meant that IndiGo is more expensive than global peers, with a valuation of EV/Ebitdar of 9.5x based on FY26E, ahead of Air China's 8.8x, according to a Nuvama Research report on 19 March.

Ebitdar is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and rent or lease cost of aeroplanes.