Indigo in rough weather

Any management shuffle irks the market and that’s what we are seeing in Indigo. Infact the airline has been seeing a lot of top management squabbles and then resignations and appointments since Feb’22. After the fight between the two founders – Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal, first Gangwal stepped down from the Board and Bhatia was announced MD and then new Chairman, new CFO were appointed in March.

And today’s news is that CEO, Ronojoy Dutta will retire in September and the company has appointed Pieter Elbers as the next CEO. He is ex-CEO of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, will join IndiGo on or before October 1, 2022.

This news apart, the overall mood for the company is not too positive, what with the rising fuel prices, the launch of Jhjunjhunwala’s Akasa expected to take off soon and Jet Airways also getting the go-ahead for flying, there is growing perception that Indigo will lose its current market leader status as it will have to contend with increased competition.

The company also rescheduled its Board meeting for Q4/FY22 earnings from 18th May to now 25th May.

The stock is down in the red today; opening over 1% lower, it went down to an intrday low at Rs.1580, which is not too far from its 52-week low of Rs.1556.25.