One of India’s wealthiest people has placed a $50bn (£39bn) bet on a travel boom in the country over the next decade.

Indigo, co-founded by billionaire aviation tycoon Rahul Bhatia, has placed a record order of Airbus jets on the first day of the Paris Air Show.

The carrier is buying 500 planes in the biggest single order in the Franco-German planemaker’s history.

The precise type of aircraft is yet to be finalised but the planes will be versions of the narrow-body A320 jets.

A320s had a list price starting at $100m each in 2018, meaning the total cost of the order will be at least $50bn.

Mr Bhatia co-founded Indigo in 2006 with fellow aviation veteran Rakesh Gangwal in 2006. Indigo has thrived in the low-cost segment of the market even as the likes of Air Asia – the carrier launched by Formula One tycoon Tony Fernandes – struggled.

Indigo has about 55pc of the domestic Indian market and lays claim to be the country’s biggest airline by market share.