Last Wednesday, two days before ET broke the story of deepening fissures between the three shareholders of AirAsia India, co-founder Arun Bhatia spoke by phone with the airline's CEO and MD Mittu Chandilya. "Are you a monkey who does whatever Tony tells you to do?" an angry Bhatia, a junior partner in the venture, asked Chandilya. Tony Fernandes is the group CEO of Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd, the largest shareholder in AirAsia India. "That's unfair," 36-year-old Chandilya retorted. "I too have raised the same issues several times in the past."
Chandilya, a former headhunter whom Fernandes directly hired, was in Kuala Lumpur to attend the airline's board meet. He had just presented a five-year plan that calls for more money from the shareholders. The heated exchange illustrates that the deteriorating relationship between the three shareholders have come to a head.
AirAsia Bhd owns a 49% stake, Tata Sons a little over 41% and Bhatia's company Telestra Tradeplace the rest in AirAsia India. ET's exclusive story brought the deep divide in the AirAsia India boardroom to light for the fi rst time. In an hour-long interview to ET, Bhatia alleged that the airline has violated Indian laws because it is controlled by its Malaysian parent and he will go to court or the authorities. Bhatia also said he was promised the airline will make profits a year after launch.
Bhatia's charges and the unwelcome spotlight on control have cast a cloud on one of the most prominent airline partnerships conceived two years ago after the government allowed foreign airlines to own up to 49% of Indian carriers. The partnership is now riven by personal animosity and cultural differences, according to half a dozen people intimately associated with the airline whom ET interviewed multiple times for the article over the past four months.
17/12/15 Binoy Prabhakar & Kala Vijayraghavan/The Economic Times
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Chandilya, a former headhunter whom Fernandes directly hired, was in Kuala Lumpur to attend the airline's board meet. He had just presented a five-year plan that calls for more money from the shareholders. The heated exchange illustrates that the deteriorating relationship between the three shareholders have come to a head.
AirAsia Bhd owns a 49% stake, Tata Sons a little over 41% and Bhatia's company Telestra Tradeplace the rest in AirAsia India. ET's exclusive story brought the deep divide in the AirAsia India boardroom to light for the fi rst time. In an hour-long interview to ET, Bhatia alleged that the airline has violated Indian laws because it is controlled by its Malaysian parent and he will go to court or the authorities. Bhatia also said he was promised the airline will make profits a year after launch.
Bhatia's charges and the unwelcome spotlight on control have cast a cloud on one of the most prominent airline partnerships conceived two years ago after the government allowed foreign airlines to own up to 49% of Indian carriers. The partnership is now riven by personal animosity and cultural differences, according to half a dozen people intimately associated with the airline whom ET interviewed multiple times for the article over the past four months.
17/12/15 Binoy Prabhakar & Kala Vijayraghavan/The Economic Times
