MakeMyTrip: India's Largest Travel Booking Platform
MakeMyTrip is India's version of Expedia or Booking.com — the country's go-to website and app for booking flights, hotels, trains, and buses. It was founded in 2000, listed on NASDAQ in 2010, and today operates three consumer brands across India: MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, and RedBus.
With over 50% market share in Indian online travel, MakeMyTrip is not just the leader — it is the market. Over 94% of its revenue comes from India alone, meaning its entire business rises or falls based on what happens in one country, with one regulator.
At a $3.5 billion market cap, investors are paying a steep premium for MakeMyTrip's India growth story. The stock trades at 75x trailing earnings — the highest of any major travel platform in the world — pricing in near-perfect execution and an unchallenged competitive position.
How MakeMyTrip Makes Its Money
Every time someone books a hotel through MakeMyTrip or Goibibo, the hotel pays a commission. Historically those commissions ran as high as 35% — meaning the hotel handed over a third of the room price. This is MakeMyTrip's most profitable segment, making up 43% of its revenue mix.
Airlines pay a fee for every ticket sold through MakeMyTrip's platform, which accounts for 35% of revenue. India's fast-growing domestic aviation market — led by IndiGo and Air India — has been a major tailwind. But airlines are now investing in direct booking to reduce their dependence on OTAs.
Through its RedBus brand, MakeMyTrip dominates India's online bus ticketing market. It also sells rail tickets, holiday packages, and travel insurance. These segments provide breadth and daily active user habits that hotels and flights alone would not generate.
MakeMyTrip's power comes from being the default place Indians search for travel. Hotels and airlines that don't participate lose access to millions of customers. That dependency is what allowed MakeMyTrip to charge high commissions — and, according to this report, to impose conditions that regulators say crossed the line.
Now here's the problem. After a months-long investigation involving 103 expert interviews, Morpheus Research alleges that dominant position was built — and is being maintained — through practices India's government has declared illegal, while real earnings deterioration is being masked from investors.
Four Allegations Against MakeMyTrip
To maintain its commission leverage, MakeMyTrip historically forced hotels into "price parity" agreements — meaning hotels could not advertise cheaper rooms anywhere else, including their own websites. India's competition regulator ruled this illegal in 2022 and fined MakeMyTrip $26 million. MakeMyTrip said it stopped. Morpheus alleges it simply renamed the practice a "price competitiveness score": hotels that don't give MakeMyTrip the lowest price get buried in search results. Former MakeMyTrip employees, executives from major hotel chains, and the president of India's main hotel industry association all told Morpheus the practice is ongoing.
In March 2024 — after the 2022 ruling MakeMyTrip was supposedly complying with — India's Competition Commission opened a second, entirely separate investigation. This one probes whether MakeMyTrip was acting as a pricing "hub," helping competing hotels indirectly coordinate prices with each other through the platform, which is illegal under Indian cartel law. Morpheus found zero mention of this investigation across every SEC filing, earnings call transcript, and annual report since it began. The only public reference appeared in a peer-reviewed academic journal. A government report is expected imminently — and would be the first time most investors hear about this at all.
MakeMyTrip publishes two profit figures: one under standard international accounting rules (IFRS), and one "adjusted" figure that strips out costs it considers non-recurring. Last quarter, the IFRS figure was $7.2 million. The adjusted figure was $51 million — the same number management highlighted to investors and analysts. The gap exists because MakeMyTrip strips out stock-based compensation, interest expense, and losses from investee companies. Its peers count these as real costs: Booking Holdings adjusts away 11% of profits, Expedia adjusts 18%. MakeMyTrip adjusts away 76%. Since 2021, the cumulative gap between what MakeMyTrip reports and what standard accounting shows is $212 million.
In July 2025, MakeMyTrip's CEO told investors that the company only "theoretically" faces rivals and that no other online travel platform has "meaningful" Indian presence. Morpheus's 103 interviews document a different picture: hotel commissions have been cut from ~35% to as low as 18% as Booking.com and Agoda aggressively expand; Marriott's share of bookings through MakeMyTrip dropped from 38% to 31% over 12 months; OYO's MakeMyTrip booking volume declined 10–12%; and Air India recorded a measurable year-over-year drop in MakeMyTrip-sourced tickets. IndiGo and Air India are both investing in their own direct booking platforms to reduce OTA dependence entirely.
The Most Expensive Travel Stock in the World — With Four Open Questions That Could Reprice It Fast
MakeMyTrip's stock price rests on three beliefs: that its market dominance is real, that its profits are growing, and that India's travel boom belongs to it. Morpheus Research's investigation challenges all three. If even one of the four allegations above is proven — the continued price parity, the hidden cartel probe, the inflated profits, or the misrepresented competition — the premium valuation at 75x trailing earnings has nowhere to go but down. And right now, all ten Wall Street analysts who cover the stock rate it a Buy.
India's appellate tribunal resumes the 2022 fine appeal. With interest, the unprovisioned liability may now be ~$34M — 60% of one year's net income
The government's Director General report on the undisclosed 2024 cartel investigation is expected soon. Its release would be the first public confirmation it exists
Convertible notes with a put option priced at ~3x the current stock. Likely requires costly refinancing or share dilution to resolve
If analysts or regulators focus on the IFRS-to-adjusted gap, the $51M profit narrative becomes a $7M one — and the valuation case collapses
This dashboard summarises the findings of a short-selling research report published by Morpheus Research on 30 March 2026, available in full at morpheus-research.com/makemytrip/. All allegations, figures, and conclusions are sourced exclusively from Morpheus Research. Activ8 Insights has not independently verified any claim and holds no position in MakeMyTrip Limited (NASDAQ: MMYT). This content is for informational and editorial purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Morpheus Research holds short positions in MMYT and has a financial interest in the stock declining. Conduct your own due diligence before making any investment decision.