IndiGo gearing up to take Kerala and Odisha to court; Here's why

Looks like IndiGo is headed for some financial and legal troubles as the airline is geared up to challenge two penalty orders, one from Kerala and the other one from Odisha totalling Rs 3,50,299 regarding input tax claims. 

Odisha government has levied a penalty of 1,77,046 on IndiGo related to Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the year 2017-2018. IndiGo had filed a petition against this tax. However, the appellate authority has rejected the airline's plea, upholding the demand related to the input tax credit for the fiscal year 2017-18.

The appellate authority has rejected the appeal filed by the company and upheld demand on account of availment of input tax credit for FY 2017-18, InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of IndiGo, said in a regulatory filing.

InterGlobe Aviation further said in the regulatory filing that they are planning to contest this decision in front of an appellate tribunal.

On the other hand, Kerela government has slapped a penalty of Rs 1,73,253 on IndiGo. IndiGo is planning to contest this case too. The input tax credit claimed by the airline has been rejected by the tax officer. The officer has issued a demand for an upfront payment. The airline has appealed this order to the concerned appellate authority.

If this was not enough, IndiGo is also attracting ire of passengers on social media for reporting the highest number of passengers affected by flight delays in July, as per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation data. 

IndiGo's flight delays of over two hours affected 1.66 lakh passengers in July, the highest among all airlines. Besides the airline also performed poorly with regards to handling passenger grievances by offering just refreshments to passengers affected by delays of over two hours and no alternative flights.

As per DGCA guidelines issued in 2023, airlines have to provide meals, refreshments, an alternate flight, or a full refund depending on the total delay.