BUSINESS
Explained | How the government's new draft policy will affect the adoption of drones in India?
As part of the new rules, the government has abolished the need for a drone licence for some criteria, reduced the number of forms required to own a drone in the country from 25 to six, and made it easy to grant permission to obtain a licence and operate a drone.
BUSINESS
Hotels in tourist hubs sold out on weekends as 'revenge travel' takes epidemic proportions
People are visiting tourist spots in droves but this has not translated into big bucks for the travel trade as people are opting for short trips instead of long vacations and avoiding high-margin leisure activities like camping, rafting and conducted tours
BUSINESS
Foreign travel bookings rise for end-July, August as restrictions ease
The travel trade expects a shortfall in international flights from India to Southeast Asian countries in August because of the rising demand for these destinations.
BUSINESS
Govt, NHAI take steps to ensure high-quality roads amid rising competition to win projects
The NHAI is also looking to create independent teams from its headquarters to carry out frequent quality checks of work at sites of projects that private players have bagged.
BUSINESS
New railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will haul a stressed but exciting network
Vaishnaw has taken charge of a network which is struggling with revenue contraction because of the pandemic and has miles to go to reach international standards of service.
BUSINESS
New shipping and ports minister Sarbananda Sonwal faces record freights, scarce containers
Sarbananda Sonowal has the tough task of navigating the shipping sector that is facing the storm of astronomical freight rates and scarcity of containers, which is hurting exporters
BUSINESS
SpiceJet to launch 42 new flights from July 10
"As travel demand picks up and leisure travelers step out for those much-awaited short breaks, we are ensuring that multiple convenient flight options are available to some of the most sought after holiday destinations like Male. We see a great opportunity in connecting unserved markets to more cities with direct flights on our network," the company's chief commercial officer Shilpa Bhatia said.
BUSINESS
Jyotiraditya Scindia takes over a debt-laden national airline and an industry struggling with traffic
The challenges awaiting Jyotiraditya Scindia, the new civil aviation minister, are many. While planned programmes like Air India divestment, airport privatisation and aviation fuel taxes would call for his focus, the immediate task is to navigate the industry back to the pre-pandemic levels.
BUSINESS
Global air travel improved marginally in May but extensive govt curbs limiting recovery, says IATA
Recovery in international traffic continued to be stymied by extensive government travel restrictions, the global aviation industry body said.
BUSINESS
Aviation authorities to review capacity utilisation cap this week as air traffic revives
Daily passenger traffic has risen from about 100,000 in early June to 160,000 and the outlook is bright as vaccination has accelerated, which warrants a review of restrictions imposed at the peak of the pandemic, officials said
BUSINESS
Interview | Indian airlines are seen losing $4.1 billion in revenues in 2021-22 due to COVID-19, says CAPA India's Sathyanarayan Sridhar
The consultancy estimates the total cash loss of the industry to be $3.5–4.0 billion in FY2022, translating into a loss of $9.6–11.0 million per day; return to pre-pandemic levels by Q3FY2023 or end of FY2024, likely.
BUSINESS
FASTag toll collections rises 21% in June, as compared to May, to Rs 2,576.28 crore
However, toll collections through FASTag in June were still lower than the Rs 2,776.90 crore witnessed in April and Rs 3,086.32 crore seen in March. Similarly, the total number of FASTag toll transactions were also lower in June as compared to the 16.433 crore seen in April and 19.321 crore transactions seen in March.
BUSINESS
SpiceJet stays afloat on ‘broken wings’ of Boeing 737 MAX
Projected compensation from Boeing for grounded jets helps Indian carrier cushion losses. The airline’s other income in 2020-21 has risen nearly six times on the provision for damages. Over the past two years, the airline has reported Rs 1,232.25 cr as compensation for the grounding of 737 MAX
BUSINESS
Explained | How India’s ethanol-blending plan impacts industry
Blending petrol with more of home-grown ethanol can reduce India’s oil import bill by $4 billion a year, and is great news for sugar mills as it is produced from a byproduct. It also helps farmers.
BUSINESS
Interview | Indian airlines are burning cash of Rs 50 crore-Rs 60 crore daily, says ICRA’s Kinjal Shah
It may take a few more months before domestic aviation returns to levels of February this year, although business travel may take longer to recover.
BUSINESS
Explained | Why does India need a new public-private partnership policy?
Public-Private Partnership has a mixed track record of failures and successes but the government is confident about it, given its success in airports, railways and many highways, and wants a new policy that will facilitate private investment.
BUSINESS
COVID-19 crisis | Government's measures to revive tourism receive mixed reactions from the industry
Industry participants said that the government's moves are not expected to provide a major boost to the sector immediately.
BUSINESS
Indian Railways working to link Aadhaar to online ticketing platform to control illegal buying
The Director-General of the Railway Protection Force Arun Kumar on June 25 said that since 2018 around 14,257 touts have been arrested till May 2021 and around Rs 28.34 crore worth of tickets have been seized from them. A tout is a person who buys up tickets to resell them at a profit.
BUSINESS
Air Passenger traffic likely to remain muted in 2021-22: India Ratings' Abhishek Nigam
In an interview with Moneycontrol, India Ratings' Abhishek Nigam said that while passenger traffic may see a boost around Diwali and New Years', sustaining air passenger traffic to pre-COVID-19 levels will continue to be a challenge for the sector.
BUSINESS
Expect toll collection from road projects to rise 12-14% in 2021-22 despite second wave: ICRA's Rajeshwar Burla
Vice President and Co-Group Head, Corporate Ratings, says for this financial year, toll collections could be 12-14 percent higher, compared to the last year on the back of a low base and increase in toll rates. ICRA also expects road construction to surpass the average target of 40 km per day for 2021-22
BUSINESS
IndiGo offers up to 10% discount to vaccinated passengers
IndiGo is the first airline in the country to offer such discounts to customers who have taken the COVID jab
BUSINESS
IIFCL consolidated net profit more than triples in FY21 to Rs 325 crore
The non-banking financial company said it had brought down its net non-performing assets to 5.4 percent in 2020-21 from around 9.75 percent in 2019-20 and said it aims to reduce NPAs to around 4 percent in 2021-22.
ENTERTAINMENT
Higher competition in road projects could lead to working capital stress: ICRA
The number of bidders has surpassed 40 participants (of which qualified were 30) for some of the EPC projects and 10-15 participants (around 5-10 earlier) for HAM projects, Icra’s Rajeshwar Burla said in a report.
BUSINESS
Interview | India's road sector withstands second wave, pre-COVID toll revenue in few months, says CRISIL's Jagannarayan Padmanabhan
Companies in the roads sector have gained from the implementation of electronic toll collection and can expect pre-pandemic level of toll revenue in a few months, but the aviation sector will take much longer to revive, Padmanabhan said.
