Former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh joins OYO as CEO of India and South Asia

Former IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh has joined Oyo Rooms as the CEO for India and South Asia. Ghosh would look after operations in countries including India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal and upcoming market in the region. Currently, the SoftBank-backed company is also planning to expand into other countries such as Indonesia.

Last month, Oyo had entered Indonesian cities Jakarta, Surabaya, and Palembang with more than 1,000 rooms in three cities. This is the first major high profile hire for the company that has set an aspiration to become the largest budget hotel chain globally by 2022.

In a tweet, Ghosh announced that he would also be involved in the global expansion with the founder (Ritesh Aggarwal) of the company. Ghosh would join the Gurugram-based company from December this year.

Delighted to share that I have signed up as the CEO for @oyorooms - South Asia and partner with @riteshagar in its global expansion. Awesome opportunity to deliver high quality accommodation in the best of locations at affordable prices in the best of locations across the world! pic.twitter.com/PhnIpK6joB

— Aditya Ghosh (@iamadityaghosh) November 15, 2018

Aditya Ghosh is a formidable professional who has been instrumental in scaling up IndiGo and turning it profitable. Under his presidentship, the low-cost airline was profitable for the 9th consecutive.

He elevated as president at IndiGo in 2018 and made IndiGo’s market share double from  20.3 per cent in FY12 to 39.6 per cent in FY17.

Ghosh appointed as CEO of SEA region has come after Oyo raised massive $1 billion from SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Since the beginning of this year, Oyo forayed into China, UK and Dubai markets. It hired Manu Midha to head its Middle East business.

For China operations, Oyo has a team of about 1,000 employees. Lei Wei (CFO) is currently leading company’s business in China.

Given that Ghosh had a sharp emphasis on increasing market share and profitability at IndiGo, it would be interesting to see how he drives scale and fortify Oyo brand in India subcontinent and South Asia with sound unit economics.

Update: The earlier version of the story reflected that Ghosh will looking into South Asia operation as CEO. A press statement of Oyo said that he will also head India, Nepal and upcoming market in the region.