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.
IA has cut fares on the UAE to Delhi and Mumbai routes by 20 per cent. The one-way fare has been cut from Dh500 (about Rs 5,500) to Dh 400 (Rs 4,400), while the fuel surcharge remains same. The new fares came into effect from July 14. Indian Airlines Regional Manager Abhay Pathak said the airline had introduced special fares to Delhi and Mumbai last Monday.
Faced with a lean season when occupancies drop 15 to 20 per cent, airlines are trying to lure fliers with cheaper fares. If you time your travel well (midweek, off-peak hours), you can still fly many sectors in the country for Rs 2,525.
While the national carrier Air India has decided against a hike, private carriers like Jet Airways and SpiceJet have concrete plans to increase their fuel surcharge on domestic flights.
CCI's ruling came on a complaint filed by Express Industry Council of India.
Adding petrol and diesel to GST was a challenging task due to their significant role as revenue generators for both the central and state governments.
Jet will, however, continue to pay the sale-linked productivity bonus to them.
Flagging higher fuel prices in many opposition-ruled states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called it "injustice" to people living there and urged the governments there to reduce VAT in "national interest" to benefit the common man. Modi raised the issue of many states not adhering to the Centre's call for reducing the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel after his government slashed excise duties on them in November last, and asked them to work in the spirit of cooperative federalism in this time of global crisis. Higher prices in some states were also harmful for neighbouring states, he added.
Anticipating a weak demand in the traditionally lean January-March period, most domestic airlines on Tuesday reduced fares massively after no-frills carrier SpiceJet announced a steep 50 per cent discount on base fares and fuel surcharges across sectors.
Consumers are paying an exorbitant 180 per cent tax on petrol, and 140 per cent on diesel in Delhi and in most other towns in India. Little wonder then that the central government expects a staggering Rs 3.46 trillion by levying excise duties on retail sale of the two fuels this year, and Rs 3.2 trillion the next. States would generally have had reason to cheer, as they command a 41 per cent share in Centre's tax revenues. But as the Centre has raised excise duties in the form of "cess," the revenue proceeds are by nature not shareable with states.
Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre had 'failed in every field' and claimed if the Congress wins in upcoming state elections, then the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will form a coalition government in 2024.
The Centre expects cooperation from the state governments to slash the surcharge and taxation on aviation fuel to control its prices, a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said in New Delhi on Thursday.
Jet Airways is keen to improve its market share
Despite a massive decline in crude oil prices since 2012 -- Modi has been prime minister in six of these eight years -- petrol in Delhi has become 10 per cent costlier and diesel 97 per cent, as of July 2.
Jet Airways on followed its smaller rival SpiceJet and hiked fares by a steep 25 per cent to mitigate the impact of the sharp fall in the rupee value and a near 15 per cent spike in oil prices of late.
Spicejet has consolidated its base fare by including fuel surcharge in it.
the airline is giving 30 per cent discount on tickets.
Air India is planning to introduce a new seating segment 'premium economy' on its domestic all-economy flights from the middle of this month at the cost of almost the lowest business class fare on a route.
The airline has launched a series of discount offers since January this year.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of tax cuts on petroleum products, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said people were aware of the fact behind the issue and pointed out at his government effecting a Rs 3 a litre cut on petrol earlier.
The bookings for this three-day offer commences from Monday with a travel validity period between January 16 and October 24 next year, SpiceJet said.
The finance minister has labelled about 65 per cent of the fuel excise revenue as cess, including the restructured road and infrastructure cess
The government on Tuesday said it has notified the Green Open Access Rules 2022 to further accelerate India's renewable energy programmes. These rules are notified for promoting generation, purchase and consumption of green energy including through waste-to-energy plants. It enables a simplified procedure for the open access to green power, the power ministry said in a statement.
If you use customised cards that suit your lifestyle needs, you could also end up availing of a variety of deals, rewards, and discounts.
Taking on competition from no-frill carriers, Jet Airways on Saturday launched a week-long sale of seven lakh low-fare domestic air tickets to attract air travellers who could use them to fly from August 10 onwards.
The government is also considering mandating payments beyond a prescribed threshold only in card/digital mode.
The move would come as a relief to air passengers.
The Indian Railways has closed 2013-14 with a 15 per cent increase in revenue, rising to Rs 1,40,485 crore, compared to Rs 1,21,831 crore last year.
New rules will unnecessarily make the airlines responsible for reasons beyond their control
The monthly electricity bills of the majority of domestic consumers in Delhi -- who use more than 200 units and up to 600 units -- will be hiked by up to Rs 265 due to an increase in the power purchase adjustment cost (PPAC) levied by discoms in the city, officials said on Monday.
If international crude oil prices zoom past the current level of about $90 per barrel and move towards $100 and beyond, middle-class consumers are not going to keep quiet about their discomfort, points out Arun Balakrishnan, former chairman and managing director, Hindustan Petroleum.
The next step is the charter, which aims to safeguard consumer rights and address criticism about the government not doing enough for passengers.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said if the US-based Tesla is ready to manufacture its electric vehicles in India then there is 'no problem' but the company must not import cars from China. In an interactive session at the Raisina Dialogue, Gadkari further said India is a large market and there is a huge potential for all electric vehicles. "If Elon Musk (Tesla CEO) is ready to manufacture in India then there is no problem ... Come to India, start manufacturing, India is a large market they can export from India," he said. The road transport and highways minister said his request to Musk is to come and manufacture in India.
'According to CMIE data, employment in manufacturing saw a reduction from 51 million in the country in 2016 to 27 million in 2021. 'That is, it has halved in just 5 years. 'At the same time, the national lockdown resulted in reverse migration to rural areas, and an increase in the number of workers in agriculture. 'It also means joblessness has increased in agriculture because there are too many workers; the number of workers went up from 200 million to 232 million.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents her fourth Budget in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
During this 24-hour "lock-in period", passengers would be able to make correction in name or amend the travel date free of cost
'We had tremendous faith in honorable Modiji in his second term as he was well-settled. Sadly that has been belied.'
Recommending an end to all cesses and surcharges on taxes, and free pricing of fertiliser and fuel ahead of the Union Budget for 2009-10, the Economic Survey suggested on Thursday aggressive disinvestment and financial sector reforms to bring the economy back to high growth track.
If the new regime is introduced in 2017, the govt may lose out on cess, surcharge
