Photo Credit: India News Network
Rakesh Gangwal, one of the founding pillars of India’s largest airline IndiGo, has once again made headlines – this time by offloading a significant chunk of his stake in InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., the company that runs IndiGo. The massive ₹11,928 crore deal, executed through a block trade on May 27, 2025, saw Gangwal selling around 22.1 million shares at ₹5,230.5 each. While the sale came at a 3.5% discount to the previous day’s closing price, the size of the transaction still managed to rattle the market a little, with IndiGo’s shares dipping nearly 3% in the immediate aftermath.
This isn’t Gangwal’s first such move. Since stepping down from the company’s board in 2022, amid a very public spat with fellow co-founder Rahul Bhatia – he has been steadily trimming his holdings. From once owning over 32% of IndiGo, the Gangwal family’s stake has now come down to around 7.7% post this latest transaction. The execution of this high-stakes deal involved some of the world’s biggest financial players, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley, signaling serious institutional interest in IndiGo’s stock.
Interestingly, this exit comes at a time when IndiGo is flying high – literally and financially. In its fourth quarter results for FY25, the airline reported a whopping 61.89% jump in consolidated net profit, clocking ₹3,067.5 crore. Revenue also soared by 24.3% year-on-year, reaching ₹22,151.9 crore. Operating margins are healthier than ever, with capacity and passenger numbers also showing robust double-digit growth. It’s almost as if Gangwal picked the most opportune moment to exit, a financially sound airline with strong fundamentals and market leadership.
Of course, with such a large stake changing hands, questions around the future direction of the airline are inevitable. Will IndiGo’s boardroom dynamics shift? How will the airline maintain its aggressive expansion plans without Gangwal’s strategic inputs? For now, investors seem cautiously optimistic, balancing concerns over the promoter exit with confidence in the airline’s continued operational performance.
While some may interpret Gangwal’s move as a final chapter in his turbulent relationship with IndiGo, others see it as a natural business decision – cashing out at the peak. Either way, this block deal marks another big moment in the ever-dynamic Indian aviation landscape, where skies are turbulent but the ambitions soar higher than ever.
