‘Motivated accusations’: MakeMyTrip fires back at EaseMyTrip founder’s allegation over ‘Chinese links’ & ‘defence data’

Nishant Pitti, chairman and founder of travel aggregator EaseMyTrip, has alleged that one of his rival companies MakeMyTrip, has a loophole on their website. Pitti claimed that the company, which is ‘majorly owned by China’, compromises the data safety of Indian armed forces who use the platform to book tickets.

In an X post on Wednesday, Pitti claimed that Indian Armed Forces personnel who book tickets via this platform using their defence IDs - inadvertently disclose their route and destination to China - since the platform is ‘majorly owned by China’.

“Indian Armed Forces book discounted tickets via a platform majorly owned by China, entering Defence ID, route & date. Our enemies know where our soldiers are flying. Attaching screenshots exposing this loophole - it must be patched now,” he said.

While Pitti did not name the platform in his post initially, the screenshots and one of his follow-up posts in the comment box suggest that the company in question was indeed MakeMyTrip.

According to Pitti's post, Trip.com Group Limited (previously Ctrip.com International Limited) holds a ‘majority’ stake in MakeMyTrip. The company had acquired a stake in the company in September 2019.

The post further claims that Vangard Group Inc. holds a 12.43 per cent stake in the company, while BlackRock Inc. has a 10.85 per cent stake. Fidelity Management and Research has a 7.82 per cent stake, Morgan Stanley has 6.37 per cent stake. Other institutional investors hold 22.53 per cent shares of the company, while public companies and individuals have 44.6 per cent stake.

MakeMyTrip, a Nasdaq listed company, has 331 institutional holders who own over 7.6 crore shares in the company, according to the Nasdaq website.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd., Baillie Gifford & Co, FMR LLC, GQG Partners LLC and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are the top five institutional investors with MakeMyTrip shares.

MakeMyTrip fires back

When LiveMint reached out to MakeMyTrip regarding Pitti's allegations, a spokesperson said that the company is solely Indian with a diverse shareholder base around the globe.

“MakeMyTrip is a proud Indian company, founded by Indians, headquartered in India, and trusted by millions of Indian travellers for over 25 years. We are a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq, with a diverse shareholder base spanning the globe," said a MakeMyTrip spokesperson.

The company further said that its operations are independent and refused to comment on the accusations.

“Our operations are independent, steered by a seasoned team of Indian professionals who bring a wealth of expertise and a commitment to excellence. We adhere to stringent corporate governance standards, fully complying with all applicable Indian laws and data privacy frameworks.”

“We don’t comment on malicious or motivated accusations and remain focused on offering our best services to our customers as a responsible Indian corporate.”