Deepak Patel,Ajinkya Kawale

Stories by Deepak Patel,Ajinkya Kawale

DGCA suspends Air India's Boeing simulator facility in Mumbai for lapses

DGCA suspends Air India's Boeing simulator facility in Mumbai for lapses

Rediff.com   30 Aug 2023

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday suspended Air India's Boeing simulator facility in Mumbai after finding certain alleged lapses during a spot check, a DGCA official said. The pilots, who were scheduled to undergo refresher courses at the Mumbai facility, will now not be able to do so.

Maruti to issue preferential equity shares to Suzuki to buy Gujarat plant

Maruti to issue preferential equity shares to Suzuki to buy Gujarat plant

Rediff.com   9 Aug 2023

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) will issue equity shares on a preferential basis to parent Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) to acquire 100 per cent stake in the latter's Gujarat plant. This deal is expected to increase the share base of MSIL by about 4 per cent. And consequently, it will raise SMC's shareholding in Maruti by around 1.8 percentage point. "Whether it is in terms of PAT (profit after tax) or earnings per share (EPS) or dividend per share (DPS) of MSIL, the share-swap option will give shareholders a better deal than any other option such as cash payment," MSIL chairman RC Bhargava told reporters during a press conference.

Price Waterhouse resigns as Paytm Payments' auditor, SR Batliboi appointed

Price Waterhouse resigns as Paytm Payments' auditor, SR Batliboi appointed

Rediff.com   8 Aug 2023

Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants (PwC India) has resigned as the auditor of Paytm Payments Services, the fintech major said in a regulatory filing on Monday. "...we wish to inform you that M/s. Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP ... statutory auditors of material subsidiary i.e. Paytm Payments Services Limited (PPSL) have resigned with effect from August 7, 2023," the company added. Paytm said that the statutory auditors had not raised any concerns or issues and that the company had noted PwC's resignation.

Govt takes multiple steps to tackle festival-season rush at major airports

Govt takes multiple steps to tackle festival-season rush at major airports

Rediff.com   4 Aug 2023

Deploying additional Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, providing real-time updates through social media, adding more immigration counters and ensuring 100 per cent manning of immigration counters - these are some of the steps that the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is now taking in coordination with other stakeholders to avoid congestion at major airports during the upcoming festival season. During the last year's festival and winter season, major airports in the country suffered from congestion due to lack of sufficient airport infrastructure, inadequate X-ray screening machines, bunching of flights at peak hours, as well as inadequate CISF and immigration personnel, the MoCA stated on Thursday. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, after last year's congestion issue, had asked major airports - including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai - to identify bottlenecks and augment capacity to meet the growing passenger demand.

Confused over UV definition, car companies await govt notification on cess

Confused over UV definition, car companies await govt notification on cess

Rediff.com   20 Jul 2023

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Does No One Want To Visit The Taj Anymore?

Does No One Want To Visit The Taj Anymore?

Rediff.com   5 Jul 2023

'Rather than visiting famous monuments, travellers now prefer "experiential activities" such as biking, trekking/hiking, camping, river rafting, yachting, parasailing and zip lining; safaris and jungle adventures; and wellness holidays to rejuvenate themselves.'

2,300 Indian Students Return To Ukraine!

2,300 Indian Students Return To Ukraine!

Rediff.com   29 Jun 2023

About half of the students, who have been affected by the war, have taken admission to universities in other countries.

IndiGo has flexibility to decide 2035 size, says CEO Pieter Elbers

IndiGo has flexibility to decide 2035 size, says CEO Pieter Elbers

Rediff.com   20 Jun 2023

IndiGo has the flexibility to decide what would be the precise size of its aircraft fleet by 2035, its chief executive officer (CEO) Pieter Elbers said on Monday. IndiGo - the country's largest airline - has 312 aircraft in its fleet. Elbers said the airline will double in size by 2030, indicating the airline will have a fleet of about 625 by 2030.

How AIIMS Plans To Battle Cyberattacks

How AIIMS Plans To Battle Cyberattacks

Rediff.com   20 Jun 2023

The second cyber attack on AIIMS took place just last fortnight, but the hospital's cyber security systems were able to successfully thwart this attempt.

Air India upgrading crew rostering, customer notification system: Wilson

Air India upgrading crew rostering, customer notification system: Wilson

Rediff.com   19 Jun 2023

Air India has been a subject of its passengers' ire this week as more than half of its flights have been delayed, primarily because of an old crew rostering system. Due to the existing system, the airline has not been able to handle the disruption created by cyclone 'Biparjoy' on India's western coast. The sudden grounding of two planes also added to the carrier's woes.

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.

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.

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.