Indigo, the restaurant that put Mumbai on the global fine dining map celebrates its 12th anniversary on Sunday, even as rumours of the restaurant shutting down are doing the rounds. Business at Indigo took a hit after the 26/11 terror attacks, and owners Rahul and Malini Akerkar who opened the restaurant in 1999 in a bylane behind the Taj Mahal hotel, divested their stake in deGustibus Hospitality the same year, to open Tote on the Turf at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse. While Rahul remains the managing director of the company, the board now has a new chairman, Naresh Oberoi and eight other directors, besides the Akerkars.


Rahul Akerkar. Pic/ Prathik Panchamia

DeGustibus Hospitality is the parent company under which brands Indigo, Indigo Deli, Indigo Cafe, Tote on the Turf and catering service Moveable Feast, operate. In an interview with Sunday MiD DAY, the Akerkars assert that Indigo is fine, reveal their plans of expanding to New Delhi by the year end, and tell us why all the competition from newly-opened SoBo eateries in their neighbourhood is actually good news for them.