Being touted as a competitor to the country's busiest Delhi airport -- which handles approximately 1,200 flights a day -- the Noida airport was expected to start flight operations by the end of this year. But supply-chain disruption, caused by pandemic and subsequent global upheaval, has hit the pace of construction at the airport which is coming up in the Jewar area of UP's Gautam Budh Nagar, some 75-km from the Delhi airport.
Bengaluru outpaced Mumbai, Delhi, and Pune in 2023 to become India's leading city for electric car registrations. The city's tech-savvy workforce, increased acceptability, zero road tax, subsidised electricity for EV charging, and a wide charging station network contributed to this surge. Electric car registrations in Karnataka's capital surged more than threefold in 2023 to 8,690 units, overtaking the growth witnessed in the other three cities, according to data from Jato Dynamics
Paytm, the country's leading fintech player which had to shut its payment bank business following regulatory action, is revisiting its business strategy including partnership with lenders. Also, the company's founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Vijay Shekhar Sharma has decided to oversee the day-to-day operations with all the major verticals reporting directly to him now. "The thing on top of everyone's agenda is getting the core businesses back on track," a person in the know said.
Air India (AI)'s rise could be at the expense of three "super-connector" hubs - Doha in Qatar, and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE - as the Indian passenger would any day prefer direct flights of their national airline that is providing excellent on-time service, Arved von zur Muehlen, chief commercial officer of Saudia Airlines, said on Thursday.
Coal-to-airports conglomerate Adani group is set to make a splash in the tech world. The group is considering the creation of customised artificial intelligence (AI) models for commercial prospects and consolidating digital services on a super app, according to people in the know. The Adani One app, part of its consumer-facing businesses, is reportedly in talks to expand into e-commerce and digital payments, according to a Financial Times report.
Why are financial-technology (fintech) players moving back to India, or doing the reverse-flipping?
Notwithstanding the sweltering heat engulfing major cities, travellers can find solace in the steady airfares to popular summer destinations like Srinagar, Bagdogra, and Kochi. According to airline executives, capacity increases and moderate demand have kept spot airfares from scorching cities like Delhi on a par with the same period last year.
Financial technology (fintech) firms PhonePe and BharatPe announced on Sunday that they have settled long-standing legal disputes regarding the use of the trademark with the suffix 'Pe' in their brand names. The settlement concludes five-year-long legal disputes across multiple courts. Both companies have decided to withdraw all opposition against each other in the Trade Marks Registry.
The number of domestic air travelers in India grew 2.42 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in April, reaching 13.2 million, according to data by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday.
The regulatory gap between crypto firms registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India) and unregistered offshore entities is expected to narrow, industry players said, after global crypto players Binance and KuCoin received approvals to register with India's anti-money laundering unit.
'During times of adversity, a brick becomes better than a stone. That is how I look at the election season.'
The international cargo operations of two major carriers - IndiGo and Air India Group (Air India and Vistara) - are experiencing opposite trajectories despite both the airlines significantly expanding their international flight offerings over the past year. During the fourth quarter of 2023-24, IndiGo's international non-passenger cargo business declined to 6,848 tonnes. This is an 18.2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) decrease, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
To increase the adoption of credit on United Payments Interface (UPI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is looking at an interchange fee for transactions lower than that for a credit-card transaction. Sources in the know said these charges could be 1-1.2 per cent. Fintech participants concur with the view that the interchange fee is expected to be lower than that for a credit-card transaction.
'For smaller merchants, there should be a process that is digital and a minimum KYC journey should be allowed.'
This isn't the first instance of Vistara facing scrutiny from the regulator over improper pilot training.
A child who is less than 12 years of age must be allotted a seat beside at least one parent or a guardian with whom he is travelling, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told airlines on Tuesday. The DGCA has said that the air transport circular on unbundling of services and fees by scheduled airlines is being modified. It allows airlines to charge for excess baggage, preferential seats, meals, snacks, drinks, and carriage of musical instruments.
Industries such as aviation and hospitality have many silos within them and Aionos, the joint venture between Interglobe Enterprises (IGE) and Assago Group, is an attempt to bridge them and boost efficiencies using artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, Rahul Bhatia told Business Standard on Tuesday. Bhatia, the Group Managing Director of IGE, serves as the majority shareholder in India's largest airline, IndiGo. Additionally, IGE operates 21 hotels under the Ibis brand and runs a logistics company called Movin.
'It's dull because this time the election is spread over such a long period.'
Airfares on major domestic routes such as Kolkata-Bagdogra, Delhi-Bengaluru, and Delhi-Mumbai have witnessed an increase of up to 12.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in May this year, according to data by Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel. The recent increase in aviation turbine fuel prices, rupee depreciation, reduction of flights by key players, and grounding of planes due to engine supply issues have contributed to the rise in airfares, said aviation industry experts. However, the data also shows that summer airfares on key routes such as Delhi-Leh and Delhi-Kolkata have significantly decreased due to the introduction of new flights.
Describing their situation akin to "bonded labour", two Air India pilot unions extended their support to Vistara pilots on Thursday, who have raised grievances regarding the duty roster and the revised salary structure. Amid the slew of flight cancellations and delays, Vistara chief executive officer Vinod Kannan acknowledged on Wednesday that pilot utilisation in the airline was high, and announced plans to scale back its flight schedule and overhaul the rostering system to provide pilots with more rest time.