IndiGo reports record profit ahead of IPO - sources

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's biggest airline, IndiGo, quadrupled its profit to a record 13.04 billion rupees ($196 million) in the year ending in March, two sources said on Thursday, as it prepares to cash in on the country's aviation boom with a stock market listing.

The low-cost carrier, which now flies one in every three air passengers within India, has remained profitable in recent years by keeping its costs lower than rivals and filling more seats on its planes.

India is one of the world's fastest-growing markets for air travel, but high operating costs and tough competition on fares have dragged most major carriers into the red.

A big drop in fuel prices in the past year, however, has eased the squeeze on airlines and is likely to have boosted IndiGo's profits.

Its net profit surged to 13.04 billion rupees, from 3.17 billion rupees a year earlier, the sources said, declining to be named as the results are not yet public. Revenue rose 25 percent from a year earlier to 143.2 billion rupees, one of the sources said.

IndiGo, which operates a fleet of around 100 planes, last month finalised the purchase of 250 Airbus A320neo aircraft, the European planemaker's largest-ever order and the latest in a series of huge orders made by the airline as it pushes to grab a bigger share of the Indian market.

InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which runs IndiGo, is seeking to raise more than $400 million in an initial public offering in Mumbai this year, after filing a draft prospectus in June.

Banking sources say the listing, which would be the biggest IPO in India since 2012, should value InterGlobe at more than $4 billion.

($1 = 66.4600 rupees)

(Reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath and Susan Fenton)