ixigo is one of the most used travel apps in India for train and flight tickets. Its co-founder and chief executive, Aloke Bajpai, has often spoken about building for travellers outside the big cities. Here is his journey, based on interviews and company filings.
The short version
- Aloke Bajpai graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2001 with an electrical engineering degree.
- He worked at Amadeus, a travel technology company, in France, first as a software engineer and later in systems and networks.
- He did an MBA at INSEAD.
- He co-founded ixigo with his IIT Kanpur batchmate Rajnish Kumar. Company filings show him on the board from 2006, and ixigo is often described as launching in 2007.
Starting a travel search site
The two friends started ixigo as a way to search for travel options in India in one place. Over time it became an app with a particular focus on train travel, which has a huge user base in smaller towns and cities. Aloke Bajpai is today the chairman, managing director and group CEO of the company, which is legally called Le Travenues Technology Limited.
The 2024 stock market listing
- When: The IPO opened in June 2024 and the shares listed on June 18, 2024.
- Size: About ₹740 crore, made up of ₹120 crore of new shares and an offer for sale of about ₹620 crore.
- Price band: ₹88 to ₹93 per share.
- Demand: The issue was subscribed more than 98 times.
- Listing: Shares listed at around ₹135 to ₹138, a premium of roughly 45–48% over the ₹93 issue price, according to Angel One.
The company’s market value has changed many times since. Please check a live quote on NSE or BSE for today’s figure.
A note on a popular claim: Some online posts say Aloke Bajpai “never fired an employee”. We could not verify this from interviews or company statements, so we are not presenting it as fact.
Questions to think about
- Do apps built for small-town users face different problems than those built for big cities?
- Is it easier to build a company with a close friend or with someone you meet later?
- How should a first-time investor look at a newly listed internet company?
Why trains matter so much for travel apps in India
Indian Railways carries crores of passengers, and for many families a train ticket is the main way to travel between cities. That makes train booking a huge market for travel apps. But the railway sells tickets through IRCTC, and private apps act as authorised partners. They usually earn from convenience fees, services such as seat-availability predictions and alerts, and selling flights, buses and hotels to the same users.
What “building for Bharat” means
Startups often use “Bharat” to mean users outside India’s largest cities. Building for them usually involves:
- apps that work on cheaper phones and slow internet connections
- support for Indian languages, not just English
- simple screens and clear prices, since many users are booking online for the first time
- features that solve local problems, such as waitlist predictions and live train status
What to know if you look at newly listed tech companies
A strong listing day does not tell you how a company will do over years. Investors usually look at whether revenue keeps growing, whether the company makes a profit, how much it spends to win each customer, and how much competition it faces. ixigo competes with larger travel platforms, so its growth and margins are worth watching in its quarterly results. This is not investment advice; see our disclaimer.
Related reading
- Startup basics: a plain-English glossary for entrepreneurs
- Startup funding this week: Indian startups raised $123 million
- India Mobile Congress 2026: key takeaways
Sources: ixigo board profile, IIT Kanpur alumni page, YourStory, Inc42 and Angel One reports on the June 2024 IPO.
Founder stories are often retold online with slightly different details. Where sources disagree, we say so, and company figures change over time, so please check the latest numbers before relying on them.
