MakeMyTrip has cleared India's securities regulator for a stock market listing of its Indian business, a share sale by the Nasdaq-listed parent that would give domestic investors direct access to the owner of the MakeMyTrip, Goibibo and redBus booking apps. The Securities and Exchange Board of India issued its final observations on the draft offer document of MakeMyTrip (India) Ltd on Nov. 6, according to a Press Trust of India report cited by The Financial Express on Monday.

For investors in Asia, the deal adds another large consumer internet name to a crowded Indian IPO pipeline. It also tests a dual structure: the group keeps its U.S. listing and floats its local operating unit in India.

The company filed its draft papers in July through SEBI's confidential pre-filing route, which lets issuers keep the document private until later in the process, Inc42 reported. The size of the issue, the price band and the listing date have not been announced.

How the MakeMyTrip India offer is structured

The IPO is expected to be an offer for sale, according to The Financial Express. MakeMyTrip Ltd and its wholly owned unit ibibo Group Holdings (Singapore) would sell part of their holdings to the public, and MakeMyTrip (India) would not issue new shares. That means the money raised would go to the selling shareholders rather than to the Indian company's balance sheet.

MakeMyTrip will not give up control. In its filing with Nasdaq, the parent said the Indian unit would remain a subsidiary after the listing and its results would still be consolidated into the group accounts, The Financial Express reported. The parent said it expects the listing to raise the brand's profile and help the Indian unit attract and reward technology staff with listed equity, according to the same report.

For holders of the Nasdaq shares, the main questions are the price and how much of the Indian unit the parent sells. A separately quoted Indian unit would put a daily market value on the group's core business.

Bookings growth in MakeMyTrip's September quarter

The approval comes two weeks after MakeMyTrip reported results for its fiscal second quarter to Sept. 30. Gross bookings rose 20.9% in constant currency, or 11.3% in dollar terms, to $2.72 billion, the company said on Oct. 26. Revenue under international accounting standards rose 2.5% to $235.2 million, or 11.2% in constant currency, with the gap between the two reflecting currency movements.

The group returned to a profit of $1.8 million, against a loss of $5.7 million a year earlier. Adjusted operating profit, a measure the company says Indian analysts call adjusted EBIT, rose to $46.2 million from $44.2 million.

Growth came mainly outside flights. Bus ticketing bookings, driven by its redBus brand, rose 29.4% in constant currency to $435.3 million, and hotels and packages bookings climbed 19.7% to $640.4 million. Air ticketing remained the largest category at $1.58 billion, up 19.9% in constant currency, though air ticketing revenue fell 7.2% in dollar terms.

Group Chief Executive Rajesh Magow said the company "delivered strong growth despite a challenging travel environment." MakeMyTrip also pointed to its AI trip assistant, Myra, which it said handled more than 90,000 conversations a day in the quarter, with over 55% coming from smaller Tier II and Tier III cities.

The balance sheet shows why a sale of shares in the Indian unit, rather than a fresh issue, suits the parent. MakeMyTrip held $427.9 million in cash and $388.6 million in term deposits at Sept. 30, but also carried $1.46 billion of loans and borrowings, which include its convertible notes due 2028 and 2030, and reported negative total equity of $81.1 million. The board has authorized buybacks of shares and notes, with $78.6 million of authority left at the end of September.

India's IPO queue keeps lengthening

MakeMyTrip joins a long list of Indian companies holding regulatory approval and waiting for a window. Startups including Tonbo Imaging have already listed this season, and lender Veritas Finance also received SEBI approval for its IPO in the same week, IndiaIPO reported.

Under the confidential route, the company must still publish an updated draft prospectus for public comment before it can file a red herring prospectus with a price band. Until then, the parent's $2.72 billion bookings quarter is the latest hard number investors have to value the business.