Despite going to the IPO at the worst possible timing of recent memory, Indian travel startup Easy Trip Planners confident to tough out pandemic. — Dreamstime/TNS
Easy Trip Planners Ltd., the Indian travel search engine that postponed its initial public offering from last year to finally make its stock market debut earlier this month, couldn’t have timed things much worse.
Instead of domestic and international travel rebounding by now as hoped, an aggressive wave of coronavirus cases in the South Asian nation has sparked night-time curfews and fresh lockdowns in parts of the country. India’s vaccine roll out has also been slow -- at this rate, it will take 2.4 years to cover 75% of the population with a two-dose jab -- prolonging the recovery for airlines and tourism.
