Deepak Patel And Aditi Khanna

Stories by Deepak Patel And Aditi Khanna

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.

Freedom of expression under threats worldwide, including India, warns Rushdie

Freedom of expression under threats worldwide, including India, warns Rushdie

Rediff.com   16 May 2023

In a video message from New York on Monday night, the 75-year-old Mumbai-born author who has lived under the shadow of a fatwa since The Satanic Verses was published in the 1980s said it was important to continue to fight for the freedom to express and to publish.

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.

King Charles III crowned UK's new monarch

King Charles III crowned UK's new monarch

Rediff.com   6 May 2023

The king and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort, travelled from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey -- a distance of 2.2-km -- at a stately pace in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach bearing a gilded crown, which was commissioned for Queen Elizabeth II in 2012.

Rishi Sunak creates history at King Charles coronation

Rishi Sunak creates history at King Charles coronation

Rediff.com   6 May 2023

The 42-year-old British Hindu leader read from the Epistle to the Colossians from the New Testament reflecting the theme of service to others, in keeping with the recent tradition of UK Prime Ministers giving readings at State occasions.

King Charles III: The monarch who has a great love for India

King Charles III: The monarch who has a great love for India

Rediff.com   6 May 2023

He last visited India in November 2019 and also celebrated his 71st birthday with schoolchildren in Mumbai and earlier this week he told British Indian peer Lord Karan Bilimoria at a pre-Coronation reception that he looks forward to making a State Visit to India soon.

Charles III to be crowned King today

Charles III to be crowned King today

Rediff.com   6 May 2023

Charles will be crowned the King of the United Kingdom amid spectacular pomp and pageantry at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday in a solemn religious ceremony that dates back almost a thousand years.

Man held outside Buckingham Palace, cops say 'no terror angle'

Man held outside Buckingham Palace, cops say 'no terror angle'

Rediff.com   3 May 2023

A man was arrested at the gates of Buckingham Palace in London on Tuesday evening as he threw suspected shotgun cartridges into the palace grounds, Scotland Yard said.

BBC chairman resigns after row over loan deal for BoJo

BBC chairman resigns after row over loan deal for BoJo

Rediff.com   28 Apr 2023

The 67-year-old former Goldman Sachs banker, who has been the chairman of the UK taxpayer-funded licence fee-backed British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), said the investigation found he had breached the governance code for public appointments.

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.

UK faith review warns of aggressive Khalistan extremism

UK faith review warns of aggressive Khalistan extremism

Rediff.com   26 Apr 2023

In a section entitled 'Sikh Extremism' the review goes into detail of how members of the British Sikh community expressed their growing concern over a small but extremely vocal group "hijacking" the Sikh faith to push a subversive pro-Khalistan narrative.

UK PM's Deputy resigns over bullying allegations

UK PM's Deputy resigns over bullying allegations

Rediff.com   21 Apr 2023

Sunak had been handed the independent report into allegations made by several civil servants on Thursday and a decision on Raab, who is also the UK Justice Secretary, was anticipated ever since.

UK think-tank warns of anti-Hindu hate in schools

UK think-tank warns of anti-Hindu hate in schools

Rediff.com   19 Apr 2023

'Anti-Hindu Hate in Schools', by the counter-terrorism think-tank Henry Jackson Society, found that 51 per cent of Hindu parents surveyed reported that their child has suffered anti-Hindu hate at school.

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.

New British Gujarati parliamentary group meets with diaspora resistance

New British Gujarati parliamentary group meets with diaspora resistance

Rediff.com   18 Apr 2023

A number of Indian diaspora organisations in the UK have issued letters objecting to the creation of a new cross-party parliamentary group for British Gujaratis, warning that the move could be "divisive".

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).

Harry to attend King Charles's coronation without Meghan

Harry to attend King Charles's coronation without Meghan

Rediff.com   12 Apr 2023

Britain's Prince Harry will attend the coronation of his father King Charles III next month, but his wife Meghan will remain in the United States with the couple's children, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday.

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.