Surajeet Das Gupta And Aneesh Phadnis

Stories by Surajeet Das Gupta And Aneesh Phadnis

Oberoi Realty surges to top with highest sales in 2021

Oberoi Realty surges to top with highest sales in 2021

Rediff.com   18 Mar 2022

Oberoi Realty has hit the top slot in Mumbai's ranking of the top-20 developers in terms of sales in 2021, evicting the Runwal group which was number one last year. The Lodha group which had occupied the top slot three out of five times since 2017 slipped to second place in 2020 and continues to be in the same position in 2021. The Oberoi group was in fifth place in 2019 and fourth place in 2020. This is the first time that it has occupied the number one position. The Runwal group which took the top slot in 2020 is down to third place in 2021.

Kalrock seeks 2 months more to get Jet's operations certificate

Kalrock seeks 2 months more to get Jet's operations certificate

Rediff.com   18 Mar 2022

Sources said the process has taken time because of a delay in leasing of aircraft. As per the original plan the aircraft were to be leased through GIFT City, Gujarat, but this is proving costlier than doing it offshore.

Ukraine Returned Students Seek Secure Future

Ukraine Returned Students Seek Secure Future

Rediff.com   14 Mar 2022

National Medical Commission regulations prohibit Indian medical students overseas to transfer programmes from one university to another mid-way.

Airlines line up new flights as govt allows regular international ops

Airlines line up new flights as govt allows regular international ops

Rediff.com   10 Mar 2022

Indian customers will have wider travel options as airlines introduce new flights from the end of March. While Malaysian Airlines and Turkish Airlines are resuming passenger flights to India after a gap of two years, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group will scale up their existing service in a graded manner in the summer schedule. Emirates, the largest foreign airline operating in India, too, is looking to restore its pre-Covid-19 schedule of 172 flights per week.

Reliance sets its drone biz plan in motion

Reliance sets its drone biz plan in motion

Rediff.com   18 Feb 2022

Reliance Industries has put together an aggressive plan to build its drone business which includes expanding manufacturing capacity five-fold, participating in the new drone production linked incentive scheme, and experimenting with limited logistics payloads to deliver goods. The target is to become a key player in the expected $5 billion market in India by the end of the decade. The drone business is being carried out through a Bangalore-based start up, Asteria Aerospace, in which Reliance has taken a majority stake. Asteria is a subsidiary of Jio Platforms Ltd.

Xiaomi plans to focus on Rs 20,000-50,000 range in premium market

Xiaomi plans to focus on Rs 20,000-50,000 range in premium market

Rediff.com   15 Feb 2022

Chinese giant Xiaomi is going for the premium segment with a view to grabbing market share in the Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 smart phone market as well as having offerings up to Rs 70,000 where players like One Plus, Samsung, Vivo and Apple are key players. "Two years ago, the Rs 20,000 plus smart phone market which is considered premium in India was very small. "Out of every 100 phones sold, only 10 were above this price mark. "However, in the last two years, it suddenly grew and we thought it was big enough for us to focus on now," said Manu Kumar Jain, managing director, Xiaomi India.

How the Tatas finally brought Maharaja home

How the Tatas finally brought Maharaja home

Rediff.com   7 Feb 2022

The Tatas have the know-how to quickly close deals which can otherwise get caught in legal wrangle. In 2018, on the day the National Company Law Tribunal declared Tata Steel as the winner of the bid for bankrupt Bhushan Steel, Bhushan promoter Neeraj Singhal was planning to file for a stay order. He did get the case listed for the following day, but the judge did not admit it, deferring it until the following week. The Tatas used the narrow window of 48 hours to close the deal and take control of the company.

Will the new management manage to revive Jet Airways ahead of March deadline?

Will the new management manage to revive Jet Airways ahead of March deadline?

Rediff.com   4 Feb 2022

The consortium of UAE-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan and UK-based private equity fund Kalrock Capital is rushing to restart Jet Airways' operations, even though differences have emerged over who will fund expenses before operations commence, sources said. The airline applied to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for recertification of its air operator certificate in the last week of January. The regulator is likely to inspect the airline's preparedness to operate a flight in the middle of this month, after which it will be asked to operate a proving flight to demonstrate its ability to conduct flights safely and in accordance with rules.

Air India set to enhance in-flight service in first and business class

Air India set to enhance in-flight service in first and business class

Rediff.com   28 Jan 2022

Air India is set to enhance its in-flight service with a change in ownership from Thursday. This will include more variety in on-board meals, improved in-flight service procedures, and reintroduction of amenities. Non-vegetarian meals are being introduced in the economy class of domestic flights after a gap of nearly four years. Air India is set to enhance its in-flight service with a change in ownership from Thursday. This will include more variety in on-board meals, improved in-flight service procedures, and reintroduction of amenities.

Jhunjhunwala the biggest draw as investors line up to board Akasa

Jhunjhunwala the biggest draw as investors line up to board Akasa

Rediff.com   25 Jan 2022

Veterans in the travel industry, a well-known corporate lawyer, and a marquee US-based hedge fund have backed the upcoming low-cost airline Akasa Air. Founded by former Jet Airways chief executive officer (CEO) Vinay Dube, the venture counts ace stock trader and investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala as its biggest financial backer with an investment of around Rs 300 crore. A person with knowledge of the development said most of the people were well known to Jhunjhunwala and Dube, who approached them during the conception stage.

Indian smartphone brands reeling under Chinese onslaught

Indian smartphone brands reeling under Chinese onslaught

Rediff.com   24 Jan 2022

The onslaught of Chinese mobile brands is virtually obliterating Indian brands, especially in terms of value. According to industry estimates based on excise and Custom duty trends, the value share of Indian brands (across smartphones and feature phones, operator phone sales - which is mostly Jio phones - and the value of phones smuggled into the country) has dropped to a mere 1.2 per cent in January-October 2021 compared to 25.4 per cent in the calendar year 2015. In the same period, the Chinese have established their domination, hitting a value share of 64.5 per cent, up from 17.8 per cent.

'Everybody wants to travel on an airline where they feel respected'

'Everybody wants to travel on an airline where they feel respected'

Rediff.com   21 Jan 2022

'Our focus is not going to be metro to metro routes.' 'We will begin by focusing on metro to non-metro (routes).' 'Metro to tier-2 cities or tier-3 cities is where there is a lot of space for affordable, efficient carriers.'

Private Credit: PE Players Want To Plunge

Private Credit: PE Players Want To Plunge

Rediff.com   20 Jan 2022

More and more PE players are willing to test the waters now, just in case they become early entrants in a future booming business.

After brisk Dec, hotels face biz loss as Omicron drives cancellations

After brisk Dec, hotels face biz loss as Omicron drives cancellations

Rediff.com   13 Jan 2022

In a bad start to the new year, hotels are counting their losses again. Weddings and corporate events for this month have either been called off or postponed. The blow has throttled the nascent recovery which had kicked in around August. It is primarily hurting the banquet-driven hotel chains, some of which are seeing cancellations running into lakhs for a single day.

Problems continue to plague Jet Airways ahead of planned 2022 takeoff

Problems continue to plague Jet Airways ahead of planned 2022 takeoff

Rediff.com   13 Jan 2022

Jet Airways is seeing a churn in its senior management ahead of its planned take-off this year. Sudhir Gaur, accountable manager and acting chief executive officer, is the latest to quit the company. Finance head M Shivakumar and head of management information system (MIS) Farazad Patrawalla moved out a few weeks earlier. Gaur had been part of the initial team selected by the Kalrock-Jalan consortium, which secured approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) last June to revive the airline.

Airlines forced to cancel flights as omicron hits demand and frontline crew

Airlines forced to cancel flights as omicron hits demand and frontline crew

Rediff.com   10 Jan 2022

India's largest carrier IndiGo will cut 20 per cent of its flights due to lower demand as a rapidly spreading coronavirus upends the recovery of air travel. The airline was operating around 1,200 flights as on Saturday. Other airlines are being forced to cancel flights as states tighten restrictions to combat the spread of the virus, and people are dropping last-minute travel plans. Airlines carried 2,518 passengers on 260,251 flights on Saturday, compared to 2,794 passengers on 358,856 flights the day before.

'We will try to be among top 3 IT services firms'

'We will try to be among top 3 IT services firms'

Rediff.com   5 Jan 2022

'There is definitely a skill war, or a talent war going on.'

Canada court orders seizure of Air India, AAI assets over dues

Canada court orders seizure of Air India, AAI assets over dues

Rediff.com   4 Jan 2022

A court in Canada has ordered the seizure of amounts collected by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on behalf of Air India and the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Separate orders were passed on November 24 and December 21 on pleas by shareholders of Devas Multimedia Private Limited who have filed multiple petitions to enforce arbitration awards against the Indian government. According to a Devas spokesperson, more than $30 million has been seized to date under the IATA action.

Indians Want Offbeat Travel Choices

Indians Want Offbeat Travel Choices

Rediff.com   1 Jan 2022

On the itinerary: Luxury camping, tribal homestays, heritage cities.