India-Maldives Row: EaseMyTrip Suspends Flight Bookings For The Island Nation

Amid the ongoing tensions between India and Maldives following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep, traveltech major Easemytrip has announced suspension of all flight bookings for Maldives.

EaseMyTrip cofounder and CEO Nishant Pitti took to X on Monday (January 8) and said, “In solidarity with our nation, EaseMyTrip has suspended all Maldives flight bookings.”

Prior to this social media post, EaseMyTrip’s other cofounder Prashant Pitti said the startup would come up with “crazy special-offers” for Lakshadweep travel.

“Water & beaches of Lakshadweep are as good as Maldives/Seychelles. We at EaseMyTrip will come up with crazy special-offers to promote this pristine destination that our PM @narendramodi has recently visited,” he wrote in his post on X last week.

At the heart of the dispute between the two countries is PM Modi’s visit to the Indian island. Post his visit, the prime minister shared pictures of Lakshadweep on social media, which soon became viral.

However, soon, a battle erupted on X between users from India and Maldives. The matter took a serious turn when three deputy ministers in the Maldives government made personal attacks on PM Modi.

The ministers used words like “clown” and “puppet of Israel” for the Indian PM. As the situation escalated, the Maldives government said it has suspended the three ministers. 

Shares of EaseMyTrip, which regained some momentum from the end of December 2023, surged as much as 6.2% during the intraday trading hours on Monday. Last year, its shares slumped significantly despite other new-age tech stocks witnessing a bull run.

On the other hand, EaseMyTrip’s competitor MakeMyTrip said on X that it has observed a 3,400% increase in on-platform searches for Lakshadweep since PM Modi’s visit to the union territory.

“This interest in Indian beaches has inspired us to launch a ‘Beaches of India’ campaign on the platform with offers and discounts to encourage Indian travellers to explore country’s stunning beaches,” it said.

Meanwhile, EaseMyTrip, with an aim to further expand its business, last week announced setting up a new subsidiary for insurance broking – EaseMyTrip Insurance Broker Private Limited. The company is also raising about INR 1,000 Cr (around $120 Mn) through a preferential issue.