Employees at Ford India's Chennai unit have called off the strike that started on May 30. Following this, the company has revised its severance package from earlier 115 days to 121 days for employees supporting production. The company indicated it would continue 'constructive discussions' with the unions in order to sweeten the deal further, if required.
White-lipped tamarin is a type of monkey that lives in the Amazon area of Brazil and Bolivia. Prevost's squirrel is a colourful species from the forests in the Thai-Malay Peninsula and nearby islands. Sugar gliders are tiny marsupials - 6.3 to 8.3 inches in length - native to Australia.
In a boost to the electric vehicle boom in India, Taiwanese major Hon Hai Technology Group (aka Foxconn) is likely to set up an EV manufacturing unit in India through its subsidiary Foxtron. Amid speculation that the company may look at Tamil Nadu and probably the Ford India unit near Chennai for its new facility, sources indicate that the group was already betting big in the electric vehicle component space in India through Bharat FIH, which is already having a tie up with companies like Ola Electric and Ather. Bharat FIH currently has two manufacturing units in Tamil Nadu's Sriperumbudur that manufactures phones like Apple iPhones and Xiaomi phones.
In a move that may boost the Indian hydrocarbon industry and bring more investments into the sector, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to give marketing freedom to domestic crude oil producers, allowing them to sell petroleum to any company in the local market. The move is set to be beneficial for major crude oil producers, such as state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India, and private sector majors like Vedanta's Cairn Oil and Gas and Reliance Industries. As of May 31, India was dependent on imports for 86 per cent of its crude oil consumption; domestic production sufficed the remaining 14 per cent demand.
Amid news of a fuel shortage in some parts of the country and wider unrest over fuel issues in the neighbourhood, an analysis of the data from international tracker globalpetrolprices.com shows that the per litre price of petrol is higher in India than in seven out of its nine neighbours.
According to industry sources, domestic toy manufacturers are seeing a sharp rise in sales during the current financial year. On January 1, 2021, India had banned the sale of toys that are not certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). This meant that all factories churning out toys to be sold in India had to be certified by the bureau along with mandatory product testing, including for units abroad.
For Pinarayi, a victory in Thrikkakara would have come as public endorsement of his development initiatives, including controversial K-Rail project, which has witnessed widespread protest
As oil marketing companies (OMCs) stare at huge under-recoveries, India is facing fuel shortage across the country with states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Haryana being the worst hit. The under-recoveries suffered by OMCs are around Rs 20-25 a litre for diesel and Rs 14-18 a litre for petrol, said sources. Government and state-run companies denied reports of any crisis or supply-side issues on the availability of fuel.
At least 50 per cent of the 2,000-odd employees at Ford's Chennai factory have agreed to restart work at the unit, a Ford India official said on Monday. The plant had to shut down due to a staff strike that started on May 30. The company also warned protesting workers of loss of pay, effective June 14, and urged them to get back to the shopfloor. Ford said it would continue to hold talks with the unions.
The airlines' losses globally are expected to be down from $52 billion in 2021 to $9.7 billion this year and industry-wide profit should be on the horizon in 2023, Director General of IATA Willie Walsh said in Doha on Monday. International Air Transport Association (IATA) represents some 290 airlines comprising 83 per cent of global air traffic. Walsh, in his inaugural speech at the 78th annual general meeting of IATA here, said that while the outlook for airlines globally is positive, the business environment remains challenging.
Tata Group-owned Air India is considering buying more than 200 new planes with 70 per cent of them being narrow-bodied aircraft, aviation industry sources said on Sunday. While Air India has zeroed in on Airbus's A350 wide-bodied aircraft for the procurement, the talks with Airbus and Boeing for narrow-bodied aircraft is still on, they said. A wide-bodied plane like Airbus A350 has a bigger fuel tank that allows it to travel longer distances such as the India-US routes.
An unhappy, restive mood prevails at the Ford factory Maraimala Nagar, 50 km from Chennai, and the surrounding area. The security is tight - not just Ford security personnel but also Tamil Nadu state police who are posted at the main gate. From September 9, when Ford India announced it was phasing out its units in India and leaving, workers at its manufacturing unit at Maraimala Nagar have held onto one hope: that the state government will step in to save their jobs.
Giving a fresh twist to the Ford India employees' strike at the firm's Maraimalai Nagar factory, the company has set the deadline for Monday evening for workers to accept a 'non-negotiable' severance package it is offering. It also indicated the possibility of legal action against workers from June 14 (Tuesday) and warned of early closure of the unit, before completing remaining export volume production. For the past 14 days, some 2,000 employees at the unit had struck work, seeking a better package from the company.
With Tata Motors subsidiary taking over Ford's passenger vehicle (PV) manufacturing unit at Sanand in Gujarat, uncertainty over the future of Ford's Maraimalai Nagar unit in Tamil Nadu continues, with workers protesting on Thursday demanding a better severance package. There are over 2,000 employees working at the unit. On Thursday, there was a meeting between agitating employees and the state labour department. The workers started protests at the Chennai unit after Tata Passenger Electric Mobility signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding with Ford India and the Government of Gujarat for acquisition of Ford's PV manufacturing plant at Sanand.
Earlier in May, Ford India announced that it had dropped its plans to make electric vehicles (EVs) in India, which it intended to export, under the production-linked incentive scheme (PLI). Ford was among 20 companies that had signed a Champion OEM Incentive Scheme under the PLI project with the government in February this year. The decision comes as a blow for the 4,000-odd employees at Ford India's Maraimalai Nagar plant near Chennai and in Sanand, Gujarat. In September last year, the company had announced that it would exit the India market, which it had entered in 1995 through an on-again, off-again joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra (they split in 1998, signed a JV in 2019 and split again in December 2020), retailing petrol and diesel brands such as the EcoSport, Figo, Aspire, and Endeavour.
The pilot, who was the first officer on the flight, landed the aircraft at the Indore airport recently without first getting the requisite training in a simulator, they said.
The aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had last week imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the airline for denying boarding to a specially abled child at Ranchi airport on May 7.
Any adverse electoral fallout in Thrikkakara by-poll may have an impact on Rahul Gandhi because this falls in the state he represents as a member of Parliament and KC Venugopal because it is his home state, reports Shine Jacob.
The Tata Group-run Air India has banned smoking and consumption of intoxicating substances at the workplace and any employee violating this order will be "dealt with appropriate consequences", the airline's Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) Suresh Dutt Tripathi has stated. It was not clear what was the trigger for Wednesday's communique. Air India did not respond to PTI's request for statement on this matter.
American automaker Ford on Thursday said that it had withdrawn plans to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) in India and it won't invest in the country under the performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. "After careful review, we have decided to no longer pursue EV manufacturing for exports from any of the Indian plants. "We remain grateful to the government for approving our proposal under the PLI and for being supportive while we continued our exploration. "Ford India's previously announced business restructuring continues as planned, including exploring other alternatives for our manufacturing facilities.