AirAsia India to lower fares, but at a price

April 10, 2013

AirAsia_India

New Delhi, Apr 10: It's the ultimate irony. While travellers are waiting for really low fares from AirAsia India, Indian carriers are waiting for it to begin operations so that they can increase their ancillary revenue by charging more for things like check-in baggage.

Indian carriers have been planning to reduce the current domestic free check-in baggage allowance of 20 kg to 15 kg. But the only reason they have not done this so far is the fear of being asked to reverse the move by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The aviation regulator had asked airlines to stop charging extra for pre-selection of seats last year.

"AirAsia does not offer any free check-in luggage and passengers have the option of booking the same at the time of buying tickets. They are likely to get the same policy to India, enabling us to at least lower the current free checkin weight from 20 kg to at least 15 kg," said an airline official.

The official of another airline said, "Once big names like Tata Sons and AirAsia have a JV airline flying here, the mandarins of aviation ministry and the offices they control will not be able to interfere too much. Airlines will hopefully be able to get some more operational freedom."

For instance, airlines point out, charging for pre-selection of seats is a common global practice but that is not allowed in India.

LCCs, which now fly almost 75% of all domestic travellers , say they are looking at unbundling services so that the basic cost of flying from origin to destination is low but a passenger is required to pay for anything else.

"Today, even the full-service Air India is contemplating charging for meals while giving only snacks and peanuts free. Airlines need to generate revenue and given the condition of Indian airlines — with all of them struggling to survive except IndiGo — any revenue stream has to be considered seriously," said an airline official.

Higher billing

Domestic carriers may cut free check-in luggage limit to 15kg from 20kg if AirAsia brings its fee model to India They also want to charge again for pre-selection of seats after DGCA scrapped the move the first time round Full-service carrier Air India is already considering charging for meals and giving only snacks and peanuts free

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News Network
April 12,2020

New Delhi, Apr 12: With 34 deaths and 909 new positive COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus cases in India on Sunday climbed to 8356, including 716 cured and discharged and 273 deaths, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

At present, there are 7367 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

"A total number of COVID-19 positive cases rises to 8356 in India, including 716 cured/discharged, 273 deaths and 1 migrated," said the Health Department.

The highest number of positive cases of coronavirus was reported from Maharashtra at 1761, including 127 deaths, followed by Delhi (1069 and 19 deaths), Tamil Nadu (969 and 10 deaths) and Rajasthan (700 and 3 deaths).

There are 452 coronavirus positive cases in Uttar Pradesh, including 45 cured and discharged and 5 deaths.

The states which have crossed 200-mark for COVID-19 positive cases also include Madhya Pradesh (532), Telangana (504), Gujarat (432), Andhra Pradesh (381) and Kerala (364).

While 19 people were detected positive for coronavirus in Chandigarh, 207 cases were confirmed from Jammu and Kashmir and 15 from Ladakh.

In North-East, Assam has confirmed the highest number of corona positive cases at 29, followed by Manipur and Tripur at two each and Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh at one each.

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News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: India emerged as the world's fifth-largest economy by overtaking the UK and France in 2019, says a report.

A US-based think tank World Population Review in its report said that India is developing into an open-market economy from its previous autarkic policies.

"India's economy is the fifth-largest in the world with a GDP of $2.94 trillion, overtaking the UK and France in 2019 to take the fifth spot," it said.

The size of the UK economy is $2.83 trillion and that of France is $2.71 trillion.

The report further said that in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, India's GDP (PPP) is $10.51 trillion, exceeding that of Japan and Germany. Due to India's high population, India's GDP per capita is $2,170 (for comparison, the US is $62,794).

India's real GDP growth, however, it said is expected to weaken for the third straight year from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent.

The report observed that India's economic liberalisation began in the early 1990s and included industrial deregulation, reduced control on foreign trade and investment, and privatisation of state-owned enterprises.

"These measures have helped India accelerate economic growth," it said.

India's service sector is the fast-growing sector in the world accounting for 60 per cent of the economy and 28 per of employment, the report said, adding that manufacturing and agriculture are two other significant sectors of the economy.

The US-based World Population Review is an independent organisation without any political affiliations.

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News Network
January 18,2020

New Delhi, Jan 18: Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal has granted the power of detaining authority to the Delhi Police Commissioner under the National Security Act (NSA), according to a notification. The NSA allows preventive detention of an individual for months if the authorities feel that the individual is a threat to the national security, and law and order, sources said.

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 3, read with clause (c) of Section 2 of the National Security Act, 1980, the Lt Governor is pleased to direct that during the period January 19 to April 18, the Delhi Police Commissioner may also exercise the powers of detaining authority under sub-section (2) of the section 3 of the aforesaid Act, the notification stated.

The notification has been issued on January 10 following the approval of the LG.

It comes at a time when the national capital has been witnessing a number of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

However, the Delhi Police said it is a routine order that has been issued in every quarter and has nothing to do with the current situation.

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