Rakesh Gangwal: the airline industry disciplinarian behind IndiGo’s success
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A market share of 50% in a highly competitive industry is a rarity. Of all the major Indian companies, only two, Asian Paints and IndiGo, have managed that consistently.
While the first is an 82-year-old company, which makes its 53% market share and sustained leadership a magnificent achievement, IndiGo has been in business for less than 20 years. Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal, the two men who have guided IndiGo’s destiny over the years as its co-founders, are a part of Indian corporate folklore. While only Bhatia is left in the pilot’s seat, Gangwal is the more intriguing personality, not least because of his decision to exit the firm he helped build, at its peak.
The airline industry veteran attended Don Bosco School in Kolkata before studying engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Early jobs with Philips India, at a time when it was considered a blue-chip employer, and Ford in the US were his career launch pads. A stint with Booz Allen Hamilton followed, where Eli Lilly was a client.
Inspired by the pharmaceutical giant, Gangwal returned to India to establish a firm making capsules. But the Indian bureaucracy stymied his efforts. Also read | How Ratan Tata set the leadership benchmark for his successors Gangwal flew back to the US and built a reputation as an airline industry specialist based on his time at United Airlines and Air France.
He then took over as the chief executive of US Airways, and subsequently led Worldspan Technologies, a travel technology and information services company, as its CEO from 2003 to 2007. The stage was set for his return to India with an entrepreneurial idea that would change the face of Indian aviation. At that point, the
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