Ajay Singh (entrepreneur)

Ajay Singh co-founded SpiceJet in 2005 with the objective of making flying affordable for all Indians. After a successful stint, he exited the airline in 2010. Five years later, he bought back the airline at a time when it was on the verge of closing down and went on to script one of the most remarkable turnaround stories in global aviation.[1] He is widely regarded as the face of Indian aviation.  

Mr. Singh has piloted SpiceJet through its initial turbulent years after taking over in 2015 and transformed it into India’s most popular low-cost airline. Under his leadership, SpiceJet registered significant growth in profitability. Since taking over in 2015, the airline has reported 18 quarters of profit and the highest passenger load factor (occupancy) for over five consecutive years. SpiceJet also has one of the best on-time performances among all airlines in India as well as one of the lowest cancellation rates. The airline’s stock was the world’s best performing aviation stock in 2017 as per Bloomberg.[2]

Mr. Singh is a first-generation entrepreneur and has always dared to dream big. Under his leadership, SpiceJet placed an order of 205 Boeing aircraft – one of the largest in the American company’s history.[3] The mega order was acknowledged by US President Donald J. Trump who said it would help create tens of thousands of jobs in the United States.[4] SpiceJet followed up the Boeing order with 50 Bombardier Q400 planes – the single-biggest order for the aircraft in Bombardier’s history.

With Mr. Singh in the cockpit, SpiceJet has been driving innovation and sustainability in the Indian aviation sector – from conducting the country’s first-ever BioJet fuel-powered flight to proudly launching a revamped in-flight entertainment system that is completely ‘Made in India’ developed indigenously by the SpiceJet team along with a local startup using off the shelf, cost effective mobile phones, weighing around 200 grams each, to perform the dual role of Wi-Fi servers and content hub that costs barely 1% of the cost that the airline was paying previously to foreign service providers.

As part of his relentless vision to diversify and not restrict SpiceJet to just a passenger airline, in 2018, Mr. Singh launched SpiceXpress – the first Indian carrier to have a dedicated cargo fleet. Long before others in the industry could even consider air cargo as a potential progression, SpiceXpress was up and running playing a critical role during the lockdown and ensuring that the country’s supply chain remained intact.

As India battled with a rising number of Covid cases and found it challenging to scale up testing for the virus, Mr. Singh’s healthcare company SpiceHealth, introduced the most affordable and fastest RT-PCR testing in India in November 2020 at a fraction of the existing cost. SpiceHealth, led by Mr. Singh daughter, Avani, introduced the concept of mobile laboratories which are easily transportable to the remotest areas. Multiple mobile labs were rolled out within a matter of few days as SpiceHealth completely disrupted healthcare in India through innovative, scalable and cost-effective solutions.

Mr. Singh is also steering SpiceJet from being a ‘pure aviation’ company to a strong and well-diversified brand with individual business verticals generating their independent and secure cash flows. Under his stewardship, brand SpiceJet diversified into several business units including SpiceXpress (cargo and drones), SpiceTechnic (MRO), SpiceStar Academy (aviation training) among others.

A keen sports person, Mr. Singh is the President of the Boxing Federation of India(BFI)[5] and the Associate Vice President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

He was elected the President of BFI on 25 September, 2016.[6] Under his leadership, Indian boxing has blossomed and achieved tremendous success including the largest ever medal tally at the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Mr. Singh has had many success stories before SpiceJet.

He was responsible for the turnaround of the loss-making Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the national television broadcast network, Doordarshan. In 1996, he served on the Board of DTC and unveiled a strategic plan to revamp the public transport operator, resulting in its spectacular revival in less than three years. He also overhauled Doordarshan and played a key role in the launch of two major channels, DD Sports and DD News.

Mr. Singh was also advisor to the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology, where he helped draft the National Telecom Policy and Information Technology Act. He played a key role in reducing the cost of mobile calls and revolutionising the telecom and IT industries in India.

He managed the publicity campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 2004 and 2014 general election campaigns. He is credited with coining the popular slogan ‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkar’, which means ‘Now is the time for Modi government’, during the 2014 election campaign.[7]