MakeMyTrip Faces New Anti-Competition Claims as Growth Pressure Builds

Morpheus Research, an activist short seller, has accused MakeMyTrip of continuing anti-competitive practices, including the use of price restrictions with hotel partners. The report also claimed that a new inquiry linked to India’s competition regulator may already be underway.

India’s travel industry is still expanding, but new pressure is building around competition, aircraft supply, and execution.

What the report claims

Morpheus said its report was based on interviews with 103 industry sources, including former employees and hotel executives. It claimed that MakeMyTrip still uses price parity rules in practice. These rules can prevent hotels from offering lower prices through other sales channels, including their own websites, which can limit competition.

The firm also said a fresh inquiry linked to the Competition Commission of India, or CCI, may already be in progress. That part has not been publicly confirmed. MakeMyTrip said only that it does not comment on short sellers’ reports.

Why the allegations are being taken seriously

In 2022, the CCI took action against MakeMyTrip, GoIbibo, and OYO over anti-competitive conduct, including concerns around price parity and other restrictions in hotel distribution.

That earlier case does not prove the new claims. But it does make them harder to dismiss.

The wider market is still growing

At the same time, India’s travel sector is still moving forward. The civil aviation minister said Indian airlines have around 1,700 aircraft on order, but supply chain disruption has slowed deliveries so badly that some planes may take many years to arrive.

Even with those limits, IndiGo is continuing to expand. The airline is adding more than 30 routes from Navi Mumbai International Airport, taking its operation there to more than 400 weekly departures. This shows that growth is still happening, even as airlines struggle with aircraft shortages.

IndiGo’s expansion is happening at a time when operational pressure across Indian aviation has become harder to manage. The airline had already faced major disruption after stricter pilot duty rules exposed staffing and scheduling gaps, before later restoring its full schedule.

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