IndiGo to raise $409m in strategy reversal on virus surge

IndiGo plans to raise 30b rupees ($409m) by selling shares as a worsening spike in Covid-19 infections in India puts any domestic or international air travel recovery on hold. IndiGo, operated by InterGlobe Aviation, approved a proposal to raise funds selling shares to large investors, the airline said in an exchange filing Monday. The move comes a few months after it said it didn’t need money. In January, IndiGo shelved plans to raise as much as 40b rupees with then CFO Aditya Pande saying the company’s internal sources of cash would be sufficient on the back of a recovery in demand. That was before a vicious second wave of virus cases erupted in Ind, killing thousands of people. Pande resigned in February and has been replaced by Jiten Chopra. India’s rapidly rising Covid-19 caseload has disappointed the country’s air travel industry, which had just begun to show signs of recovery, particularly in domestic routes. Airlines in the South Asian nation lost $2 billion in nine months last year. The second wave has delayed a recovery by around six months for international travel and three for domestic, according to India Ratings & Research.<br/>