EaseMyTrip co-founder and chairman Nishant Pitti has pledged 9 Cr shares, valued at ₹94.5 Cr, to Motilal Oswal Financial Services, according to a BSE filing. The shares, pledged on June 20, represent 2.54% of the online travel aggregator’s total shareholding and account for nearly 13% of Pitti’s current 45.4 Cr shareholding in the company.
The pledge is said to be for “personal use,” and marks a new chapter in Pitti’s evolving financial strategy. Before this, he had 8 Cr shares under pledge. Following the latest development, his total pledged shares now stand at 17.01 Cr, equivalent to 4.8% of EaseMyTrip’s total equity.
This move comes six months after Pitti stepped down as the company’s CEO in January and after he offloaded around 5 Cr shares in a block deal last December, raising ₹78.3 Cr. At that time, he assured investors that he would not be selling more shares and emphasized that his previous sale was for “personal reasons.”
“I want to assure you this does not reflect any lack of confidence in EaseMyTrip’s bright future… To honor your trust, I have thoughtfully limited my share sale and confirm there will be no further sales from my side,” Pitti stated in a social media post earlier this year.
Since stepping down from his CEO position, Pitti has been focused on “EaseMyTrip 2.0,” a new strategic investment initiative aimed at acquiring up to 49% equity in promising businesses, without disrupting founder-led operations. The initiative targets sectors such as domestic and international holidays, religious tourism, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions), group travel, student travel, and adjacent industries including wellness and financial products tied to travel.
“We want to back founders who are building exciting businesses and not replace them. EaseMyTrip 2.0 is about combining their vision with our platform to create real, lasting scale,” Pitti said in a recent statement.
In line with this vision, the company has already made acquisitions in medical tourism (Pflege Home Healthcare), aviation (Big Charter), and bookings (CheQIn). However, its planned stake acquisition in Rollins International fell through late last year.
EaseMyTrip’s stock closed marginally higher today, up 0.10% at ₹10.42 on the BSE.
