'With this revamp the anonymous journey of the user will begin wherein he will not have to sign in every time he accesses the app.'
If Cyrus's protestations of having no knowledge of his imminent dismissal are to be taken at face value, he was extraordinarily naive and insulated from the ground reality. There were enough straws in the wind to suggest that his relations with Ratan were fast deteriorating to a point of no return.
This is the third enforcement action against a Tata Group airline in over a month.
The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea of the Sapoorji Pallonji (SP) group seeking a review of the 2021 verdict which had upheld the Tata group's decision to remove Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of the Tata Sons. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana, however, ordered the deletion of certain remarks made against Cyrus Mistry in the March 2021 verdict. Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the Tata group, said the court may permit the deletion of one or a few sentences not for the reasons given in the application of the Sapoorji Pallonji (SP) group.
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.
IndiGo's size should be compared with global carriers, and not other domestic airlines, chief executive officer Pieter Elbers said on Tuesday, adding that such benchmarking will help India transform its airports into aviation hubs. Elbers flagged the tendency to scrutinise domestic competition, assess fares on domestic routes, and determine if they are high. "But if we want to build some hubs, we should have a broader look," he said during a panel discussion at a convention organised by All India Management Association (AIMA).
The country's largest software exporter TCS on Wednesday reported a 16.83 per cent jump in its June quarter consolidated net profit to Rs 11,074 crore. The Tata Group company had reported a net profit of Rs 9,478 crore in the year-ago period and Rs 11,392 crore in the preceding quarter. Its revenue from operations increased 12.55 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 59,381 crore and was marginally up from the preceding March quarter's Rs 59,162 crore.
Air India's pilot unions on Monday alleged that working conditions are hostile at the airline and sought Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran's intervention to resolve the issues. Tata group took control of loss-making Air India in January this year. The two pilot unions -- IPG and ICPA -- claimed that despite its unflinching support extended to Air India in its growth and expansion plan, the management has not reciprocated in the same manner.
Crew shortage is impacting the operations of Air India, with some flights to the US and Canada either getting cancelled or facing inordinate delays, according to a source. Tata group-owned Air India, which is the only air operator flying on ultra-long haul routes, had faced problems last year also due to the shortage of crew members. An ultra-long haul flight's duration is more than 16 hours.
The Tata Group-owned Air India has readied a five-year transformation plan, which is expected to take its domestic market share to 30 per cent, up from 8.4 per cent logged in June. IndiGo leads with a market share of 58.8 per cent. The transformation plan--Vihaan.AI-unveiled on Thursday revolves around tripling the domestic market share with investments in new aircraft, technology and improvements in customer service.
Air India has relaxed the new norm related to the accumulation of privilege leaves for those employees retiring in the current and next financial years. In March, the Tata Group-owned carrier revised its policy with respect to privilege leaves for both permanent and full-term contract staff to align the policy with prevailing market conditions. From April 1 onward, Privilege Leaves (PLs) accumulation limit for all employees is 60 days in a particular financial year.
The reported buyback of Temasek's 20 per cent stake in Tata Play by Tata Sons will be the third instance of Tata Group providing an exit to a foreign partner in recent years. In 2018, Tata Sons paid $1.27 billion to DoCoMo to buy back 26 per cent of the group's telecommunication venture, Tata Teleservices. This was followed by Tata Sons acquiring AirAsia Berhad's 49 per cent stake in AirAsia India in two tranches to make it a wholly owned subsidiary.
Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran was paid Rs. 113 crore as remuneration for 2022-23 (FY23), including Rs. 100 crore as commission on profit. Chandrasekaran, 60, often referred to as Chandra, received a remuneration of Rs. 109 crore in 2021-22 (FY22). With this, Chandra has emerged as one of the highest-paid chief executive officers (CEO) in Corporate India for FY23.
'I hope they all survive, but it is a tough world.' 'The carriers who are already established are already struggling.'
Flight AI173 from Delhi was diverted to Magadan in Russia on Tuesday owing to an engine glitch, the Tata Group-owned private carrier said in a statement last evening.
Air India pilots, who are up in arms against the airline's management's decision to unilaterally alter their salary structure and services conditions, on Tuesday sought Ratan Tata's intervention in resolving the issue. In a petition, signed by a little over 1,500 Air India pilots, the community alleged that the "pilots' concerns are not being heard or addressed by the current HR team". On April 17, Air India rolled out a revamped compensation structure for its pilots and cabin crew, which has since been rejected by the two pilot unions - Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) - on the grounds that the airline, in alleged violation of the labour practices, did not consult them before finalising the new contracts.
Reliance Jio has sent a second legal opinion to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the subject of the potential allocation of satellite spectrum. The letter is written by retired Supreme Court Justice L Nageshwara Rao and argues in favour of auctions, stating that any other method for allocating spectrum apart from auctions could be constitutionally unsound. Business Standard has reviewed the letter.
'Within five years, we should be achieving more on the international front than what it took most airlines 15 to 20 years back.'
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.
More than 1,600 employees of Air India, the former state-run carrier now owned by the Tata group, have opted for voluntary retirement under a scheme announced on June 1. These employees comprise 22 per cent of permanent staff (around 7,000). The airline has a total employee strength of around 10,800, including those on contract.
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.
The Adani Group has overtaken Mukesh Ambani Group to become the country's second biggest business group in terms of market cap behind Tatas. Adani Group cos now have a combined m-cap of Rs 19.44 trillion against Ambani Group cos combined m-cap of Rs 17.89 trillion. Tata Group leads the league table with the group market capitalisation of Rs 21.73 trillion on Monday. The Adani Group companies, however, continue to out-perform firms from business groups and the broader market on the bourses by a big margin.
The incident which took place on Friday came close on the heels of two mid-air urinating incidents on the international flights of Tata Group-run private carrier Air India late last year.
In a bid to incentivise its staff and improve their performance, Air India may soon offer them employee stock options (ESOPs). The erstwhile national carrier, which was acquired by the salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Group last year, will be the second company in the Group to have an ESOP policy. Tata Motors is the other Group company with an ESOP policy, which was implemented in 2018.
The government has notified the agreement between Air India and special purpose vehicle AIAHL for the transfer of non-core assets, ahead of the national airline's takeover by the Tata Group. The government had in October last year, inked the share purchase agreement with the Tata Group for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. The Tata Group is expected to take full control of the airline, it founded in 1932, on Thursday. The cash component of the deal would come once the handover process is completed. The Tata Group would pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt.
In a major victory for the Tata Group, the Supreme Court on Friday set aside the NCLAT order restoring Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of the conglomerate.
The migration of domestically developed intellectual property to foreign corporations within India reflects an anomaly in the demand pattern of the country's job market, points out Kanika Datta.
Corus, which was acquired by Tata Steel for 6.2 billion pounds in the beginning of this year, is eyeing global network alliances in automotive steel, as it aims to build a strong position in the international market.
In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, February 15, night, Nipun Aggarwal had said Air India, in addition to the order of 470 planes, had the option to purchase 370 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.
The country's largest IT services exporter TCS on Monday reported an 11 per cent jump in the December quarter net profit to Rs 10,846 crore, led by overall growth and forex gains. The Tata group company had reported a post-tax net profit of Rs 9,769 crore in the year-ago period. Overall revenue grew 19.1 per cent to Rs 58,229 crore for the reporting quarter from Rs 48,885 crore in the year-ago period, the company said, adding in constant currency, the topline growth is 13.5 per cent, and in the dollar terms, it clipped at 8 per cent.
According to the revised policy, guests should not be permitted to drink alcohol unless served by the cabin crew and that the cabin crew be attentive to identifying guests that might be consuming their own alcohol.
West Asian carriers are up against Air India and IndiGo in the battle for seats on lucrative international routes.
The landmark Air India-Boeing deal will create up to 1 million jobs across 44 states in the US and will further deepen bilateral ties, President Joe Biden has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Boeing and Air India announced a mega deal on Tuesday under which the Tata Group-owned airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm orders valued at $34 billion at list price. The deal will also include customer options for an additional 50 Boeing 737 MAX and 20 Boeing 787, totalling 290 airplanes for a total of $45.9 billion at the list price.
The United Kingdom on Friday announced a joint investment package with Tata Steel worth 1.25 billion pounds, including a government grant of 500 million pounds, for the country's largest steelworks in Wales that will help protect thousands of jobs and boost the British economy. The government's grant has been dubbed as one of the largest British government support packages in history and a "defining moment" for the country's steel industry.
Air India has given more time to pilots to accept the revised compensation structure, which has been opposed by two pilot unions, according to a source. The decision to provide more time to pilots who are yet to sign the new contracts also comes days after Air India organised a town hall meeting with many pilots to discuss their concerns. The source said the airline has given time till the end of this week for signing the new contracts apparently due to requests from people who had not earlier accepted the revised compensation structure.
Aviation regulator DGCA has asked Tata Group-owned Air India to repair its aircraft after a passenger complained on social media on Monday about the plane's shabby interiors, including a broken armrest, officials said. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had last Wednesday grounded a SpiceJet aircraft over a passenger's complaint of dirty seats and malfunctioning cabin panels. The SpiceJet plane took to the skies a day later after all the suggested repairs were effected.
The country's largest software services exporter TCS on Monday reported an annualised 8.4 per cent growth in net income at Rs 10,431 crore for the September quarter. The Tata Group company said its total revenue from services grew at a much faster pace of 18 per cent to touch Rs 54,309 crore in the period under review. The city-headquartered IT major had reported consolidated revenue of Rs 46,867 crore in the year-ago quarter from which it had earned Rs 9,624 crore net income.
Air India has finalised an order for around 250 aircraft with Airbus and the deal is expected to be announced next week, a source said on Thursday. The source in the know also said the airline has signed a deal with Boeing for about 200 planes. Specific details could not be immediately ascertained and there was no immediate comments from Air India about the deals.
The passengers were stopped by the crew members for consuming alcohol and they apologised in writing for the incident.
Tata Neu, the super app from the Tata group, has been downloaded by over 7 million users within seven weeks of its launch. And, the company wants to ramp this up to 150 million users in the next two years, said senior executives of Tata Digital in an internal magazine of the Tata group. According to data from App Annie, a mobile app tracking platform, the Tata Neu app has been downloaded by over 11 million users.