The BJP has accused Rahul Gandhi of meeting with 'enemies of India' during a visit to Germany, alleging a conspiracy against the country.
Rahul Bhatia-controlled domestic carrier IndiGo on Monday cancelled 562 flights from six metro airports, with 150 cancellations originating from Bengaluru airport alone, according to sources.
According to sources, the crisis-ridden airline cancelled 137 flights at Delhi airport and 21 services at Mumbai airport.
In another development, aviation safety regulator DGCA in an order on Sunday late evening extended the time by Monday 6 pm for IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Chief Operating Officer and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras to submit reply to its show cause notice over the ongoing disruptions in the airline's operations.
The board of InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of IndiGo, has already set up a crisis management group in the wake of the significant operational disruptions that started on December 2.
Aviation regulator DGCA intensifies scrutiny of IndiGo following widespread flight cancellations. The airline will offer travel vouchers to affected passengers.
'I don't think it is right to remove him over one lapse. The focus should be on restoring operations, not on removing a key management personnel.'
DGCA provided temporary relief to IndiGo, which is partially owned by Rahul Bhatia, by rolling back the night duty definition to 12 am-5 am from 12 am-6 am earlier, and allowing its pilots to do six night-landings from two earlier, besides other relaxations.
IndiGo promoter Rakesh Gangwal's family trust on Thursday sold a 1.3 per cent stake in the country's largest airline for Rs 2,933 crore through open market transactions, cumulatively offloading shares worth Rs 14,497 crore so far this year. With the latest sale, the cumulative divestment by Rakesh Gangwal, along with his wife Shobha Gangwal and their family trust -- the Chinkerpoo Family Trust -- stood at Rs 39,532.79 crore, translating to around $4.51 billion.
InterGlobe Aviation promoter Rakesh Gangwal and his family trust on Tuesday sold a 5.7 per cent stake in the airline for about Rs 11,385 crore ($1.33 billion) through a block deal, according to sources. Apart from Gangwal, the Chinkerpoo Family Trust, whose trustees are Shobha Gangwal and JP Morgan Trust Company of Delaware, has also participated in the transaction for divesting its stake in IndiGo, the country's largest airline, the sources said.
'Wait for six months, and you'll see Gill's jersey become the most sought after one.
Currently, there are related party transactions in four areas -- real estate leased to IGAL, simulator training facilities, General Sales Agreements (GSAs) for limited foreign markets and crew accommodation at Accor Hotels, the IGE statement said. Citing unaudited numbers for 2018-19, the statement said the related party transactions in the four areas accounted for Rs 150.12 crore or 0.53 per cent of IGAL's consolidated turnover.
'Just look at China: They have five or six major airlines and some smaller ones.'
Indigo has zero competition on 61.2 per cent of its 838 domestic routes.
While mostly corporates, including established names and little-known ones, went for the top-denomination bonds, there were also several individuals who bought multiple such bonds.
Industries such as aviation and hospitality have many silos within them and Aionos, the joint venture between Interglobe Enterprises (IGE) and Assago Group, is an attempt to bridge them and boost efficiencies using artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, Rahul Bhatia told Business Standard on Tuesday. Bhatia, the Group Managing Director of IGE, serves as the majority shareholder in India's largest airline, IndiGo. Additionally, IGE operates 21 hotels under the Ibis brand and runs a logistics company called Movin.
From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.
InterGlobe Enterprises on Thursday said it along with Archer Aviation plans to launch an all-electric air taxi service across India in 2026. Once launched, the InterGlobe-Archer flight will aim to take passengers from Connaught Place in the national capital to Gurugram in Haryana in approximately 7 minutes whereas by road, the 27-kilometre-long trip will take 60-90 minutes, according to a release. Both companies have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the goal of partnering to launch and operate an all-electric air taxi service in India, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals and clearances.
IndiGo promoter Rakesh Gangwal has written a letter to markets regulator Sebi flagging governance issues at the company and has accused fellow co-founder Rahul Bhatia and his firms of indulging in questionable related-party transactions.
The country's largest domestic budget carrier IndiGo on Wednesday announced the appointment of Pieter Elbers as its chief executive officer, replacing incumbent Ronojoy Dutta. Seventy-one year old Dutta, who came to helm the airline in January 2019, has decided to retire on September 30, after guiding the airline through the turbulent Covid period, IndiGo said in a statement. Elbers' appointment, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will be effective from on or before October 1, it said.
Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal - the founders of IndiGo - will possibly face each other with deep mistrust, which the board chairman, M Damodaran, will attempt to defuse.
The promoter-brothers, distant cousins to IndiGo's Rahul Bhatia, are eyeing Air India's ground handling subsidiary to augment their aviation services business even as they make a big play in EVs.
Some years ago, Rakesh Gangwal reportedly said his relationship with Rahul Bhatia evolved in an amazing friendship, which he termed 'blind trust'. The question is whether that is under scrutiny now.
InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of the country's largest airline IndiGo, will convene a shareholders' meeting on December 30 to amend the company's Articles of Association (AoA) following a joint request from its promoters. The promoters -- Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal -- together with their related entities and individuals own 77.4 per cent stake in InterGlobe Aviation. In a regulatory filing on Monday, the company said it will convene an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on December 30 to amend the AoA to remove restrictions on transfer of shares by the promoters.
Rahul Bhatia, a promoter of the company, has been appointed as the interim CEO.
The EGM would discuss deleting various Articles pertaining to transfer and acquisition of the company's shares, including 'Right of First Refusal' and ' Tag Along Right', in the company's Articles of Association.
The genesis of the arbitration lies in a bitter public battle that began in July when Rakesh Gangwal wrote to capital market regulator Sebi alleging lack of corporate governance in the company. He alleged that Rahul Bhatia, who holds controlling power of the company, had used it to execute questionable related-party transactions.
On February 19, India's largest private low-fare airline IndiGo announced the resignation of one of the two founders, Rakesh Gangwal, from the airline's board and his intentions of offloading his stake in the airline over the next five years. The announcement came on a Friday, giving the stock markets the weekend to absorb the news but the markets registered a tepid response on Monday's opening. In contrast, in July 2019, when the fight between the two founders and erstwhile friends first became public, the markets reacted savagely. The IndiGo scrip at the time fell 19 per cent, wiping out millions of rupees of shareholder wealth before bouncing back. For readers who may be hazy on the details of the dispute, here is the context.
Gangwal said he will not vote in favour of resolutions that intend to expand the size of the board to 10 members. Gangwal wants a seven-member board.
The carrier's total income rose over 28 per cent to Rs 8,229.4 crore in the three months ended December 2018.
Rakesh Gangwal had raised concerns that various RPTs involving Bhatia's InterGlobe Enterprises Group were executed without seeking the audit committee's approval and without seeking competitive bids from third parties.
IndiGo will seek board approval for Dutta's appointment soon. Till then, promoter Rahul Bhatia will continue to act as interim CEO.
IndiGo has been facing a probe by Sebi ever since a public spat came to light between two founders of the airline, including over certain related party transactions involving one of the warring promoters.
The feud between Gangwal and Bhatia came into the public after the former, in July, wrote to markets regulator Sebi seeking its intervention to address alleged corporate governance lapses at the company.
Ghosh said the Tata Trusts Cancer Care Initiative is one of the largest health care programmes in the world
Rahul Bhatia set up IndiGo and the Ibis hotels in India.
Swedish super sports car maker Koenigsegg Automotive AB has joined hands with Rahul Bhatia-promoted InterGlobe Enterprises to launch a range of high-end, high-performance models in India.
Analysts remain sceptical on the profitability from freighter business, saying that once normal air transport resumes and there's abundant belly capacity, the traditional economics of air cargo may not be that lucrative.
Leading low-cost carrier IndiGo has received the government's permission to buy 150 aircraft in the next 2-3 years, a senior company official said.
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