Reports of rift between promoters baseless speculation: IndiGo CEO

Days after reports of a rift between IndiGo promoters surfaced, the airline's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rono Dutta on Saturday termed the reports as "baseless speculations".

Recently, reports highlighted differences between IndiGo's co-founders Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal over managerial control of the firm.

On Saturday, Dutta in a statement said: "I would like to forcefully address these baseless speculation as they are not in the best interests of our shareholders, our employees and the travelling public."

Further, in the same statement Dutta said on behalf of Gangwal: "I (Gangwal) am categorically and clearly stating that there is no interest or desire whatsoever on the part of the RG Group to take control of the company.

"... I (Gangwal) am placing on record that the RG Group stands by the current SHA which, in any case, expires this October."

According to Dutta, the IGE (InterGlobe Enterprises) group is represented by the law firm of JSA and the RG Group is represented by the law firm of Khaitan & Company which have been on retainer by the founders since 2015.

"...They continue to represent the promoters on various ongoing matters as it relates to their shareholding in IndiGo. Thus, the 4-year-old ongoing retainer history of the law firms should not be presented or seen as a new revelation," he said.

Addressing the employees, Dutta said: "...Please do not believe these baseless speculation, we remain committed to our path of a rapid build-up of airline connectivity within India and to international destinations.

"Reiterating this, the full Board wants to clearly state that IndiGo's strategy in terms of growth and cost leadership remain unchanged, we remain committed to being an institution which benchmarks itself against the best-in-class organisations across the world."

However, Dutta added: "We all know, that in any strong and well-managed company there will always be differences. And, yes, there may be differences currently on certain matters but the Company has a great track record of resolving issues and coming out ahead.

"If the current differences were to not get resolved, you shall certainly hear about it; however, it serves no purpose speculating about it."

--IANS

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