IndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdown

India Business Briefing Indian business & financeAdd to myFTGet instant alerts for this topicManage your delivery channels hereRemove from myFTIndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdownAlso in this newsletter: government clears way for Reliance Jio IPOIndiGo’s CEO Pieter Elbers, who was pushing the airline’s international expansion, resigned last week © 2025 Bloomberg Finance LPIndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdown on x (opens in a new window)IndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdown on facebook (opens in a new window)IndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdown on linkedin (opens in a new window)IndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdown on whatsapp (opens in a new window) Save IndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdown on x (opens in a new window)IndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdown on facebook (opens in a new window)IndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdown on linkedin (opens in a new window)IndiGo in turbulent times as CEO quits after operational meltdown on whatsapp (opens in a new window) Save Veena VenugopalPublishedMarch 17 2026Jump to comments sectionPrint this pageThis article is an on-site version of the India Business Briefing newsletter. To receive it in your inbox regularly, sign up if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription here.Good morning. India’s direct talks with Iran have yielded some results, with two gas-laden tankers clearing the Strait of Hormuz. Foreign minister S Jaishankar told the FT that there was no “blanket arrangement” with Tehran and that “every ship moving is an individual happening”.In today’s newsletter, the government has cleared the hurdles for a Reliance Jio public offer. But first, what’s next for IndiGo?Turbulent timesLast week, Pieter Elbers, IndiGo’s chief executive since 2022, announced his decision to step down with immediate effect, citing “personal reasons”. Managing director (and founder) Rahul Bhatia has taken charge until a new leader is named.On March 9, the day before Elbers’s sudden resignation, an IndiGo flight from Delhi to Manchester spent 14 hours in the air due to confusion over altered pathways because of the Middle East war. This was the latest in a series of operational nightmares and public embarrassments the company has been facing. Elber’s resignation followed a series of unfortunate events that began in December, when the airline had an operational meltdown that resulted in thousands of flights being cancelled or delayed. IndiGo, which had long been proud of its quick and efficient handling of aircraft, had failed to make appropriate arrangements to comply with regulations on staff rostering. Images of stranded travellers at airports sitting amid piles of luggage circulated in mainstream and social media, prompting an official probe. In an email to employees, Bhatia said the incident “should never have taken place”, adding: “Our customers didn’t deserve it and nor did all of you.” What happens next? Before the troubles of the past few months, Elbers had been busy expanding IndiGo from a domestic, low-cost operation to a hybrid model that aimed to serve 50 international destinations by the end of the current fiscal year. The company has an order book of more than 900 aircraft, which it is inducting at the rate of one a week. These ambitions notwithstanding, the company has been posting poor results every quarter so far this year. Over the weekend, it also added a fuel surcharge to its fares because of the rising cost of aviation fuel on account of the war.What follows could decide whether problems at IndiGo will continue, or mark the start of a reset. Who Bhatia (and the board) picks to succeed Elbers will throw some light on the company’s future direction. It will certainly signal if international expansion remains the airline’s primary strategy. In India, IndiGo has 60 per cent of the market share. Its main competitor is Air India, which has its own set of problems, including an impending leadership change. It’s unlikely that IndiGo will cede much market domestically, because passengers really do not have much of a choice. This is the first serious crisis the 20-year-old organisation is going through. How IndiGo emerges from it will tell us whether it has to apply the brakes on its growth plans, and what it means for its aspiration of being a truly global airline. Do you think Elbers’s resignation is good for IndiGo? Hit reply or email me at indiabrief@ft.comRecommended storiesUS oil groups are in line for a $63bn windfall from Gulf war disruption.A US submarine attack has brought the Iran war to Sri Lanka’s door.Donald Trump warns Nato faces a “very bad future” if allies fail to help the US in Iran.A flood of redemptions has hit private credit funds.The highs and lows of the 2026 Oscars.Henry Mance on the slow death of the English boarding school.To the marketMukesh Ambani-owned Jio’s listing, which has been estimated at upwards of $4bn, will be the biggest to hit the Indian market © 2024 Bloomberg Finance LPMukesh Ambani’s telecom behemoth Reliance Jio is one step closer to a public listing, with the recently announced changes to IPO rules. On Friday, the government cut the shares large companies were required to put up for public offer — from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent of paid-up capital — while offering a path to slowly increase public shareholding over several years. The move, proposed by the markets regulator last September, will also help with the listing plans of the national stock exchange.The immediate beneficiary of the change is Jio’s listing, which will be the biggest to hit the Indian market with a valuation set to exceed $4bn. While analysts were expecting this in the first half of the year, the war in the Middle East could mean a delay. Several other IPOs planned for the next few months have also hit pause as the stock market has taken a massive tumble since the start of the conflict, with the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex indices shedding more than 10 per cent in the past month.The IPO will also boost parent company Reliance Industries, which has been dealing with the chaos in global oil markets. In the past few months, the company has reduced its procurement of Russian oil and expressed its interest in buying Venezuelan oil. US President Donald Trump also announced that Reliance would be investing in the first major refinery to be built in the US in nearly half a century. Although the company has neither confirmed nor denied this, either way some liquidity cannot hurt.India had a robust year of IPOs in 2025, raising $20bn, according to some reports. But the market downturn means the volume of deals will probably be lower. That said, Jio’s listing alone will be enough to make it a bumper year for India’s primary market. Go figureFive-minute bets are the new craze sweeping crypto markets. Ultra-short-term bets have surged in popularity with amateur traders on prediction markets, creating “even more mania” in digital tokens.Contracts on whether the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be higher or lower in five or 15 minutes are attracting roughly $70mn in daily trading volume across Polymarket and Kalshi, data from the two biggest prediction platforms shows.Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.My mantra“It’s important to be adaptable and continuously learn new skills, even in senior leadership positions. When you stop learning, it’s probably time for you to move on to something different, which forces you to learn again.”Rajiv Ramaswami, chief executive, NutanixQuick questionDo you think it’s time to start buying the dip in the stock market? Tell us here. Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.Buzzer roundOn Friday, we asked: Which tech company that was started in 1993 and is fuelling the AI boom has the following unofficial motto: “Our company is thirty days from going out of business.”The answer is Nvidia.Aniruddha Dutta was first with the right answer, followed by Neha Roy, Srinath V, Dhinakaran Pandian, and Vivek Kumar. Congratulations! Thank you for reading.

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