Shreya Jai &Amp; Deepak Patel

Stories by Shreya Jai &Amp; Deepak Patel

With 'Invicto', Maruti set to drive into Rs 20+ lakh segment for first time

With 'Invicto', Maruti set to drive into Rs 20+ lakh segment for first time

Rediff.com   14 Jun 2023

Maruti Suzuki is set to launch a new multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) -- Invicto -- next month. It will be the company's first passenger vehicle with an ex-showroom price tag of Rs 20 lakh or more, said Shashank Srivastava, executive director (sales), on Tuesday. The upcoming MPV will compete with the likes of Toyota Innova Hycross, Kia Carnival, Hyundai Alcazar, MG Hector Plus, Tata Safari, Mahindra & Mahindra XUV700, and Mahindra & Mahindra Scorpio-N - all having three rows of seats. Invicto will be based on the Hycross by Toyota, which will manufacture Maruti's most expensive car at its Bidadi plant in Karnataka.

Air India to Spend $400 Million On...

Air India to Spend $400 Million On...

Rediff.com   12 Jun 2023

... changing seats and in-flight entertainment on its older aircraft.

Auto companies post record PV sales in May

Auto companies post record PV sales in May

Rediff.com   9 Jun 2023

The previous May peak was observed in 2018 when the domestic PV wholesales stood at 301,238 units.

Quickly provide engines for grounded fleet: IndiGo to Pratt & Whitney

Quickly provide engines for grounded fleet: IndiGo to Pratt & Whitney

Rediff.com   25 May 2023

Low-cost carrier IndiGo has asked American aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (PW) to quickly provide engines for the airline to press its grounded planes back into service, sources said on Wednesday. The airline wants to increase its domestic frequency to fill the supply-side void created after Go First's exit, they added. Go First stopped operating flights from May 3 after filing an insolvency application with the National Company Law Tribunal.

Semiconductor chip prices are up 50%: Bajaj Auto EV head Eric Vas

Semiconductor chip prices are up 50%: Bajaj Auto EV head Eric Vas

Rediff.com   22 May 2023

The semiconductor chip supply for the electric two-wheeler industry has normalised but the prices are up by nearly 50 per cent compared to pre-pandemic period, said Eric Vas, president, Urbanite, the electric vehicle (EV) business of Bajaj Auto. "It (the supply) has improved greatly. It has pretty much normalised. The problem is the cost. "The costs remain very high. Hopefully, the costs will start correcting themselves over this fiscal year," he said in an interview with Business Standard.

Peak power demand hits historic high of 220 Gw, may cross that level soon

Peak power demand hits historic high of 220 Gw, may cross that level soon

Rediff.com   18 May 2023

At around 3 pm on Wednesday, India's daily peak power demand touched 220 gigawatts (Gw)-the highest daily peak ever in the history of the country. The ministry of power in its estimates had projected country's power demand to cross touch 220 Gw during the months of April-June. With a cooler April due to unseasonal rains, the peak shifted to May.

To avoid 2022 crisis, Indian Railways ferries more coal for electricity

To avoid 2022 crisis, Indian Railways ferries more coal for electricity

Rediff.com   15 May 2023

As Indian Railways looks to avert the crisis like last summer, preparations are under way to stock up coal at thermal power plants. Much like February and March, thermal coal movement in April was 5 per cent higher than the previous year, data from the Ministry of Railways shows. While India prepares for a hot summer this year, 48.23 million tonnes (mt) of coal for thermal power plants was ferried by Indian Railways in April. The national transporter also moved about 500,000 tonnes--18.4 per cent-- more imported coal for power plants this April than it had done last year.

Akasa Air's occupancy soars at fastest pace among peers in April

Akasa Air's occupancy soars at fastest pace among peers in April

Rediff.com   10 May 2023

Akasa Air's plane occupancy, or load factor, improved the most among all major carriers in April compared to the last month. Load factor signifies the percentage of seats that the airline has been able to fill in its planes. The Vinay Dube-led carrier, which started commercial flights in August last year, saw its load factor jump by more than 11 per cent in April, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation's data

Cars With The Highest Waiting Period

Cars With The Highest Waiting Period

Rediff.com   9 May 2023

Only five of India's top 20 car models have seen a reduction in wait times over the past year.

Heat Wave: States Brace For Impact

Heat Wave: States Brace For Impact

Rediff.com   2 May 2023

While some states have kicked in their heat action plans, experts feel this is not enough to tackle the current extreme weather.

Don't see growth in small car segment this fiscal year: R C Bhargava

Don't see growth in small car segment this fiscal year: R C Bhargava

Rediff.com   27 Apr 2023

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) does not anticipate growth in the small car segment because people continue to find these vehicles unaffordable, chairman R C Bhargava said on Wednesday. He said the market had clearly shifted towards the sport utility vehicle (SUV) segment and the company will go in the same direction. The domestic sales of utility vehicles jumped in India by 34.54 per cent to about 2 million units in FY23.

Pilot suspensions rose 2x in 2022 for violating safety norms: DGCA

Pilot suspensions rose 2x in 2022 for violating safety norms: DGCA

Rediff.com   19 Apr 2023

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended the licences of 92 pilots in 2022 for violating safety norms, which was more than double the 2021 figure. The number of scheduled flights (domestic and international) in India increased by 32.74 per cent to 1.3 million in 2022, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. A DGCA official stated that the minimum period of licence suspension in 2022 was one month and the maximum was three years.

Air India, SpiceJet, and Go First lost domestic market share in Q4FY23

Air India, SpiceJet, and Go First lost domestic market share in Q4FY23

Rediff.com   19 Apr 2023

Indian carriers transported 12.8 million domestic passengers in March 2023, a year-on-year growth of 21.41 per cent. India's largest carrier IndiGo shored up its domestic market share from 53.8 per cent in Q4 of FY22 to 55.7 per cent in Q4 of FY23, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data released on Monday.

Two-wheeler exports from India skid nearly 18% in FY23

Two-wheeler exports from India skid nearly 18% in FY23

Rediff.com   14 Apr 2023

Two-wheeler exports from India fell by 17.8 per cent to 3.65 million units in 2022-23 (FY23), according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) on Thursday. This decline is due to a rise in global inflation and the weakening of economies and currencies in key export markets of Africa, Latin America (LatAm), and South Asia. In contrast to FY23, two-wheeler exports from India jumped 35.4 per cent to 4.44 million units in 2021-22 (FY22).

Mercedes-Benz's India sales jump 36% in FY23; female customer base doubles

Mercedes-Benz's India sales jump 36% in FY23; female customer base doubles

Rediff.com   12 Apr 2023

Sales of Mercedes-Benz in the country have jumped by 36.67 per cent to 16,497 units in 2022-23 amid high demand for its top-end vehicles, according to its India MD & CEO Santosh Iyer. "This is the highest-ever sales recorded by the company in any financial year," he stated. In the luxury car segment of India, Mercedes-Benz is the market leader with about a 42 per cent share.

Hero MotoCorp offers VRS, eyes leaner organisation

Hero MotoCorp offers VRS, eyes leaner organisation

Rediff.com   7 Apr 2023

With a new chief executive officer (CEO) at the helm, the country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp is now looking to cut flab and move towards a leaner organisation. It has launched a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its staff as it aims to make the organisation 'agile and future-ready'. Recently, the company's erstwhile chief financial officer (CFO) Niranjan Gupta was elevated as CEO.

Akasa's Focus: Connecting Metros To Non-Metros

Akasa's Focus: Connecting Metros To Non-Metros

Rediff.com   1 Apr 2023

'While we do some metro-to-metro flying, we have got a lot of metro-to-non-metro cities like Bengaluru-Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru-Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru-Guwahati and Bengaluru-Kochi.'

Honda's EV roadmap: Dedicated factory, first two e-scooter models in a year

Honda's EV roadmap: Dedicated factory, first two e-scooter models in a year

Rediff.com   30 Mar 2023

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), India's second-largest two-wheeler maker, on Wednesday revealed its electric vehicle (EV) roadmap, which includes setting up a dedicated EV factory, launching the first two EVs in 2023-24, and establishing 6,000 battery exchange points in the country. HMSI plans to establish a specialised unit for the manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs), named 'Factory E', at its Narsapura plant located in Karnataka. Factory E will be created by converting an existing production line that currently manufactures internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, said Atsushi Ogata, HMSI managing director and chief executive officer.

Labour pains could hit Hyundai's buyout of GM's Talegaon plant

Labour pains could hit Hyundai's buyout of GM's Talegaon plant

Rediff.com   29 Mar 2023

Legal battles initiated by 1,000-odd former employees of the Talegaon plant continue to present a challenge for the acquisition process.

Traffic Surges; Airlines Grapple With Grounded Planes

Traffic Surges; Airlines Grapple With Grounded Planes

Rediff.com   21 Mar 2023

If all 102 grounded planes could fly, there will theoretically be 400 more Delhi-Mumbai flights every day.