Following stringent cost-cutting measures by business process outsourcing units and IT firms across the country, the business of call centre cab owners has dwindled by anywhere between 5 and 40 per cent.
This indirect outsourcing will make Airbus' parent company EADS' total business outsourced to India grow 10 times by 2020, from the current euro 100 million. In comparison, the total outsourcing to countries outside Europe will only increase by more than three times in that period, albeit from a far larger base of euro 8 billion. Industry experts said this indirect outsourcing would be a clear way to rationalise costs.
Industry sources and certain airline executives revealed this was done after the LCCs hammered out their differences with full-service carriers on certain contentious issues related to pricing. Industry source said the fares had been lowered as a protest against the full-service carriers' sale of coupons worth Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) and valid for six months to travel agents across the country at prices that were 20-30 per cent less than those available on their websites.
Full-service carriers like Kingfisher, Jet Airways and Air India sold travel coupons worth around Rs 300 crore to travel agents a few days before the airlines almost doubled their fares in one go. Experts say the full-service carriers have ensured 5-6 per cent of their average sales through these coupons. This, they add, will partly make up for the slowdown in demand expected due to the fare hike.
The gap between the average fares of a full-service airline and a low-cost carrier for metro routes narrowed by a third in January, thanks to leading players cutting their fares quite dramatically to grab the market share.
A month after they cut fares 25-30 per cent, the country's leading airlines have realised that the surge in passenger traffic they had expected has not happened.
The service is offered through SMS, call centres and the Internet. Industry experts said 8-10 million people use mobile search. Two million people use the Internet and the rest use SMSs and call centres. The operators' main source of revenue is premium SMS (what they charge for search query). Advertising from the local merchants getting listed in the search is a promising option.
Raghu Menon, CMD of National Aviation Company of India (Nacil), had said last year that more than 70 per cent of the merger process would be completed by the end of FY09.
The move will help mop up not more than Rs 10 billion, which is only a fifth of the capital requirement of the industry, led by Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, say experts. The expected investment has been calculated on the basis of a 100 per cent premium on the current valuations of Jet Airways and Kingfisher -- two of the country's largest carriers by market share -- which require over Rs 50 billion.
The civil aviation ministry and the directorate general of civil aviation plan to award the low-cost carriers some key morning and evening peak-time slots (a fixed time for departure or arrival of a particular flight) lying unused with the full-service carriers at metro airports like Delhi and Mumbai. DGCA officials and airline officials confirm that airlines like Jet and Kingfisher are not using around 10 per cent of their slots during the peak periods.
Of the available media, it was the fastest growing segment in 2008. Its better return on investment and the comparative ease with which its efficacy can be measured will ensure that the trend continues, say analysts. Rising interest in social networking in 2008 has made brands think seriously about online advertising.
While portals such as makemytrip, cleartrip and ezeego have seen a rise of 30 per cent in advance booking in the first week of January, others such as yatra and travelocity, with a 10-15 per cent surge, are also expecting more bookings in the coming weeks. The cleverly-introduced advanced booking fares have induced passengers to book tickets until as late as November.
The lukewarm response to the proposed real estate development around the Delhi airport has put its Rs 8,940-crore modernisation in a financial bind.
Insurance, telecom, infrastructure, FMCG and energy are unlikely to downsize; Elsewhere, only top performers are safe.
Despite sharp erosion in the net worth of airline companies due to losses in the recent past, banks and financial institutions have decided to sanction loans to some of them including Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, while some of the companies in this sector are still waiting.
Travel agents in the country have had their way with airlines, at least in the domestic sector. National carrier Air India today agreed to pay a 3 per cent commission to travel agents, nearly two weeks after Jet Airways and Kingfisher agreed to do the same.
Several Indian and international aviation and logistics companies such as Air India, Singapore Airport Terminal Services, Menzies, Bobba, Swissport, Bird Group and Worldwide Flight Services have responded, individually or through tie-ups with each other, to two requests for proposals to set up a new cargo facility at Delhi airport and upgrade the existing one. The RFPs were sent by Delhi International Airport Limited, the GMR-led consortium that is modernising the airport.
With the executive search business declining by 40-50 per cent, recruitment companies are on a serious cost-cutting drive
Firms like MphasiS believe in an inclusive workplace, providing equal opportunities to all.
Delhi-based low-cost carrier SpiceJet is looking at restructuring its core leadership team as part of US investor Wilbur Ross's strategy of turning around the company.
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