Fine of INR 700 per stranded flyer

Across sectors, when it comes to the hapless consumers in India, they have little option but to grin and bear it. The behaviour and attitudes of the regulatory bodies, and policy-makers can only be described as one that aims to safeguard business interests more. This was illustrated again when the civil aviation regulator, DGCA, imposed a fine of just over INR22 crore on IndiGo, the largest domestic airline. Remember that the penalty was because in December 2025, for over a week, more than 3,00,000 IndiGo passengers were stranded across the airports because of canceled or delayed flights.

In the initial days, the airline offered little or no relief to the flyers. It did not bother to inform them the reasons for the delays or cancellations. It did not offer amenities by way of free meals or hotel accommodations. Only after public anger, media coverage, and outrage did IndiGo react, apologised, and gave excuses for the unprecedented crisis. Vikram Mehta, the chairman of the airline, publicly released a video to say sorry for the inconveniences and hardship. But he too was economical with the truth. He claimed that the crisis lasted for three days between the third and fifth of December.

However, the facts are that on December 11, 2025, more than 500 Indigo flights were canceled. Now, let us consider the actions of the DGCA after the crisis ended. A senior vice president of operations in the airline was debarred from his duties. The CEO and COO of the airline got a warning. Finally, the regulator imposed a fine of INR22 crore. Consider this amount in perspective. It amounts to just over INR700 per stranded passenger. It is a miniscule percentage of the airline’s annual turnover of INR80,000 crore, and annual profit of INR8,000 crore. Clearly, the fine is puny, and does not bother IndiGo.

More than 110 million, or 11 crore passengers flew IndiGo in 2025. Hence, the fine implies a penalty of INR2 per flown customer. Will this make either the airline, or its top management to realise its mistakes, and to pause, ponder, and reflect on the implications of taking passengers so ruthlessly for a grounded ride? Will it turn out to be a lesson for other airlines, in case they make the same or similar blunders? Of course, no. The signal that the DGCA has sent is that airlines can get away with murder, literally.

Clearly, and I am convinced, IndiGo’s management is likely to just shrug off the fine. The regulator may keep quiet after the fine, although there is an ongoing investigation, and the media and public, which is often the case, will forget about the crisis. This has sadly been the story of most regulators across sectors. One of the most crucial sectors, which witnesses intimate interface and cold conflicts between the consumers and companies is insurance. There are reports that insurers do not fulfil their obligations, and try to wriggle out of a part of their commitments at the last minute.

Tens of thousands of complaints are lodged with the insurance sector regulator, IRDAI. These are publicly available on its website, and social media platforms are filled with such comments against the insurers. At the highest level, the fines imposed by IRDAI are a few crores of rupees, such as INR3 crore on Policy Bazaar, and INR2 crore on Star Alliance. Like IndiGo, insurance firms earn huge revenues, and profits, and their cash reserves are massive. This explains why LIC, the largest state-owned insurer, is one of the largest institutional investors in Indian equities, and owns huge stakes.

For the insurers, the fines are like drops in an ocean of revenues and profits. To put it in perspective, let us assume that an individual earns a salary of INR3,00,000 per month, and has underperformed in office. The HR in the office imposes a penalty of INR1,000 on the person. Do you think that this will amount to anything? Will the underperformer shape up? Now imagine that the person knows that INR1,000 is the final fine to pay. This is not the way to improve an individual, nor is INR22 crore enough to jolt IndiGo.

This is the tragedy with the regulatory bodies since the economic reforms began in 1991. Perhaps, the only regulator that has taken large firms to task, and imposed large fines is the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which has routinely imposed hefty fines on brokers, companies, and other entities. But they too are infrequent, and barely scrape the bottom of the barrel. The illegalities and manipulations in the stock market result in losses of thousands of crores (refer to the Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh scams). In many cases, the stock offenders do out-of-court deals with the stock market regulator, and virtually go scot-free.

Perhaps, the most significant regulator-judicial body is the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Its aim is to control and combat cartels, and ensure that they do not exploit the consumers. Its performance is not up to the mark, according to experts. Recently, the CCI judged that the steel firms formed a cartel between 2015 and 2023. Until now, the extent of the penalty is not known, but given the firms’ combined sizes, revenues, and profits, one can be rest assured that they will comfortably pay them. In effect, the firms, shareholders, stakeholders will heave a sigh of relief.

Frankly, there is not much hope when it comes to controlling cartels or protecting the consumers’ rights. Perhaps, the best example is taxi services in Goa. The operators are small, but are so powerful as a cartel that no competitor, including taxi aggregators, are allowed in Goa. The existing taxis charge whatever they feel like. This is downright cartelisation, and exploitative behavior. There is no one to protect the locals, and Indian and foreign tourists, who are fleeced by the taxi operators. They pay heavy prices.

Coming back to Indigo, there needs to be a serious effort, as well as introspection by the policy-makers and regulators on how to tackle such manmade, or rather company-made, disasters in crucial sectors. A consumer-unfriendly environment in the country is not conducive to encourage the consumers to spend more, or for foreign visitors to travel to India. Consumer spends, as is evident from the growth rates in the past two quarters, are crucial. Without private expenditure, India is unlikely to sustain long periods of high GDP growth.

The author has worked for leading media houses, authored two books, and is now Executive Director, C Voter Foundation; views are personal