IndiGo Wake-Up Call For Investors: When Tech Claims, Business Reality Don't Match

December 2025 reminded us of a brutal truth: even the best technology can't save a business if its leaders aren't all in.

IndiGo, India's largest airline and long hailed as a digital poster child, grounded thousands of flights in a single week. The tech wasn't the problem. The systems were there. What was missing? Leadership that was paying attention, asking the right questions, and moving fast enough when it mattered.

Now, let's not spend too long on IndiGo. The lesson here isn't about airlines. It's about boardrooms that applaud themselves for hiring a star tech team and spending big money on the latest technology, but fail to ask the only question that matters: Are business leaders tuned in or just turned on by dashboards?

From where we sit at Greyhound Research, that's the real miss. And it's not unique to IndiGo. It's a systemic problem; one that shows up across sectors, markets, and board decks.

Over the past 20 years, working as an analyst and advising some of the world's largest organisations, I've seen this pattern repeat across companies. Despite their ambitions and investments, many organisations fail at integrating technology into the bloodstream of business. And it's not because of a lack of tools, it's because of a disconnect in mindset and execution.

At Greyhound Research, we work closely with CIOs and business leaders to bridge exactly this gap. Whether it's helping realign governance with digital roadmaps, fixing broken escalation protocols, or auditing where strategy fails to account for tech capabilities, our mandate has been clear: make the handshake real. And the deeper we go, the more we realise, this isn't a bug. It's the default setting in too many enterprises.

Investors, here's your wake-up call. The next time a CEO or chair tells you they've "gone digital" or flaunts a dashboard of automation metrics, ask tougher questions:

• What business decisions have your technology influenced this quarter?

• When regulations change, how fast do your systems adapt, and who's responsible?

• Are your risk and compliance teams working in lockstep with your engineering teams?

• Who in your organisation can override a tech system during a crisis? And how often do they rehearse for that?

• What does your simulation engine say about your next operational shock? Do you even have one?

This isn’t theory. These are now baseline hygiene checks in a world where AI is embedded into everything from pricing to HR to procurement.

Let's take a step back. In the old world — even five years ago — businesses could operate in functional silos and get away with it. Marketing didn't need to know what ops was doing. IT could focus on uptime. Compliance stayed in the basement. Those days are over. Today, a misalignment between any two of those functions, especially if AI is in the mix, is a liability waiting to blow.

Because in the age of AI, the stakes aren't just operational; they're existential.

You're not just dealing with automation. You're dealing with opaque models, legacy data lakes, fast-evolving rulesets, and increasingly impatient regulators. A hallucinating LLM writing policy documents? A biased AI engine used in hiring or lending? An algorithm making decisions based on corrupted third-party data? None of these are hypothetical; they're case studies in the making.

Which brings us to the regulatory shift. We're seeing it across markets, from India's push for AI accountability to the EU AI Act and emerging data localisation mandates across Asia. These aren't once-a-decade interventions. These are quarterly updates. The compliance bar is rising in real time. And it's no longer a backend concern; it's a boardroom one.

So, what does this mean for capital allocators, fund managers, and institutional investors? It means you need to recalibrate your questions. Don't just ask how much is being spent on tech. Ask how that tech is governed. Who's accountable when it fails? How does the business learn from near-misses? Are audit trails being maintained? Are AI systems being retrained in line with new policies?

Because here's what we're hearing in the field: even companies with the best intentions are struggling with execution. We've seen risk and compliance teams get looped in too late. Engineering teams build fast but document nothing. Legal teams are reviewing AI contracts without understanding the underlying model logic. This is where good strategies go to die.

The winners in this next phase won't be the ones with the biggest cloud spend or the shiniest AI demos. They'll be the ones with a live, breathing handshake between tech, governance, and the frontline.

And let's be honest: that handshake is rare. In most orgs, digital is still treated like a toolset, not a mindset. The CIO gets invited to board meetings but not always to budget decisions. Security reports are tabled but rarely actioned. Tech-driven warnings are labelled as "noise" until they become a headline. Sound familiar?

That's why we believe 2026 and beyond will be a defining test. Companies that merely flaunt digital slogans will be exposed. Companies that embed tech into their strategy, compliance into their code, and foresight into their culture; they'll be the ones left standing.

At Greyhound Research, we're already tracking this divergence. The C-suites that are pulling ahead are those where technology and operations meet weekly, not quarterly. Where scenario planning isn't a PowerPoint ritual but a cross-functional simulation. Where failure modes are rehearsed. And where governance isn’t outsourced to a quarterly audit but owned at the top.

So yes, ask the questions. Scrutinise the handshake. Don’t get blinded by AI ambition unless it's backed by AI accountability.

Because in the end, your investment doesn't care how shiny the tech is. It only cares whether it works when the heat is on.

You've been warned. And now you've got the playbook. Use it.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of NDTV Profit or its affiliates. Readers are advised to conduct their own research or consult a qualified professional before making any investment or business decisions. NDTV Profit does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented in this article.