Indian budget airline IndiGo posts wider loss on higher forex costs

Indian budget carrier IndiGo posted a wider second-quarter loss on Tuesday, hurt by a jump in foreign exchange costs.

Standalone quarterly loss widened to 26.14 billion rupees ($297.40 million) from 9.89 billion rupees a year ago.

IndiGo’s total expenses jumped 18.5% in the second quarter, with forex costs surging to 29.05 billion rupees and accounting for 13.1% of expenses.

“The year began with significant external challenges across the industry, but we saw stabilization in July and a strong recovery through August and September”, CEO Pieter Elbers said in a statement.

IndiGo said it expects third-quarter capacity to grow in the high teens and has expanded its operational plans for the second half to meet rising demand.

The airline’s revenue from operations rose to 185.55 billion rupees from 169.70 billion rupees a year ago.