Thomas Cook collapse may hit India's inbound travel and its forex earnings

Agencies

September 24, 2019

New Delhi, Sept 24: With British travel giant Thomas Cook going belly up, India's inbound travel could be severely hit and hence adversely impact foreign exchange (forex) earnings too in the months to come.

Travel industry sources said that Thomas Cook sends a lot of high-spending tourists to India from countries such as UK, Germany and France. Countries like UK, Germany and Italy where Thomas Cook has a good presence are the key source markets for India.

"The shutdown of Thomas Cook would certainly impact inbound travel. The whole travel industry is struggling," said Harjinder Singh, Director of Delhi-based 24*7 Travels.com.

As per the latest official data, UK's share in India's total foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) was 8.01 per cent in August 2019.

Among the top European source markets, German tourists accounted for 1.85 per cent of the total FTAs in the previous month. The total FTAs in August 2019 were 7,98,587 as compared to 7,86,003 in August 2018, registering a growth of 1.6 per cent.

With global slowdown casting its shadow on travel business, the FTA growth is likely to be tepid in coming months. With Thomas Cook, one of the world's top travel firms, going bankrupt, the travel business is certainly going to see a tough time.

While Thomas Cook India is a completely separate entity from Thomas Cook UK post its acquisition in 2012 by Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings, reaching out to each wary customer following the recent development would not be easy for the Indian firm.

"With the recent developments relating to the iconic British Travel Company, Thomas Cook PLC, being reported in the media, it is imperative to highlight that Thomas Cook India Group is a completely different entity since August 2012 when it was acquired by Fairfax Financial Holdings (Fairfax), a Canada-based multinational with varied interests across the globe as well as in India," Thomas Cook India said in a statement to allay fears of its clients and customers.

An industry insider, however, said it is a big task for Thomas Cook India to convince common people that it is not related to the ailing UK travel firm.

Madhavan Menon, Chairman and Managing Director, Thomas Cook (India), however expects other tour operators in the UK to fill the gap and said that the situation would settle down in the "medium term".

Speaking to IANS, Menon said: "In the UK, I expect that other tour operators will take up the capacity. It will not be a problem, there are many tour operators."

"In the immediate terms there may be rise in prices... or the yields for the tour operators in UK, but in the medium term I expect things to settle down," he added.

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2838 Pakistanis, 914 Afghans, 172 Bangladeshis given Indian citizenship in last 6 years: Fin Min

News Network

January 19,2020

Chennai, Jan 19: Amid ongoing nationwide protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said that as many as 2838 people from Pakistan were given citizenship during the last six years.

"In the last six years, as many as 2838 Pakistani refugees, 914 Afghan refugees, 172 Bangladeshi refugees including Muslims have been given Indian citizenship. From 1964 to 2008, more than 4,00,000 Tamils (from Sri Lanka) have been given Indian citizenship," Sitharaman said at 'Programme on Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019' event here.

She added, "Till 2014, over 566 Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were given Indian citizenship. During 2016-18 under Modi government, around 1595 Pakistani migrants and 391 Afghanistani Muslims were given Indian citizenship."

The minister, further, said, "It was also during the same period in 2016, that Adnan Sami was given Indian citizenship, this is an example."

Sitharaman added that people who came from East Pakistan have been settled at various camps in the country.

"They are still there and it's been 50-60 years now. If you visit these camps, your heart will cry. The situation is the same with Sri Lankan refugees who continue to live in camps. They're barred from getting basic facilities," she said.

Asserting that the government is not snatching away anyone's citizenship, the BJP leader said: "This Citizenship (Amendment) Act is an attempt to provide people with a better life. We are not snatching away anyone's citizenship, we are only providing them that."

"The National Population Register (NPR) will be updated every 10 years and is not involved with the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Some are involved in raising false allegations and triggering people unnecessarily without any base," she added.

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Hello Madam,

What Are you ?? Are you a Finance Minister or External Affairs Minister ??

when someone asked about the economy which well related to your ministry you won't even open your mouth,

but now you are talking about a matter which is not at all your business...

What a pefect figure given by our short time finance minister. Hope she wil feed them from her person income wthout ONION.

Stupid, dont know even what they talk.

It is not snatching anybody's nationality. You dont have right to do it.

The subject is not snatching, the subject is disccimination while giving nationality.

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With spike of 54,736 cases, India's COVID-19 tally crosses 17 lakh mark

Agencies

August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 17 lakh mark with 54,736 positive cases and 853 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

"The total COVID-19 cases stand at 17,50,724 including 5,67,730 active cases, 11,45,630 cured/discharged/migrated and 37,364 deaths," said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

As per the data provided by the Health Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst affected state from the infection -- has a total of 1,49,214 active cases and 15,316 deaths. A total of 4,31,719 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the state up to Saturday, as per the state health department.

Tamil Nadu has a total of 60,580 active cases and 4,034 deaths.

In Delhi, the total cases rose to 1,36,716, including 1,22,131 recovered/discharged/migrated cases and 3,989 deaths. There are 10,596 active cases in the national capital.

The total number of COVID-19 samples tested up to August 1 is 1,98,21,831 including 4,63,172 samples tested yesterday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Sunday.

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'Did I ask for stars and moon?': Uddhav on severing ties with BJP over CM post

News Network

February 3,2020

Mumbai, Feb 3: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose party severed ties with the BJP after the state elections, on Monday said that if somebody breaks a promise, "pain and anger is obvious".

"No, I did not get any shock," Thackeray said in an interview with Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana while talking about forming an alliance with NCP and Congress, and becoming the Maharashtra Chief Minister.

"I am a son of Shiv Sena Pramukh (Balasaheb Thackeray), several people tried to give a shock to me but they didn't succeed. This is a field where you have to accept in the beginning that there will be a bit pushing and pulling," Thackeray said.

He added that accepting the Chief Minister's post was not a shock for him and neither was it his "dream at any point of time".

"But I can say one thing for sure that I had decided to go to any level to fulfil the promise which I made to Balasaheb Thackeray. I want to further clear it that me becoming Chief Minister is not the fulfilling of the promise made to Shiv Sena Pramukh but it's just a step towards that. I will fulfil every promise which I made to my father," Uddhav Thackeray said.

"There are several types of shock. Did people like it or not, it is the important part. I have spoken on this issue (alliance with NCP and Congress) several times and even people have understood this. Making promises and keeping them are two different things. If someone breaks a promise, pain and anger is obvious," he added.

The Chief Minister said that he does not know if BJP "has come out their shock till now or not."

"But I have to say if they had kept their promise what would have happened, what a big deal had I asked for? Did I ask for stars and moon? I only asked for what was decided before Lok Sabha polls, when we decided seat distribution," he said.

He further said, "Maharashtra and the country are watching (who betrayed/shocked whom), I don't need to say much on this."

Soon after the Assembly election results, Shiv Sena demanded rotation of the chief minister's post and equal power-sharing in the state government, which was rejected by then ally BJP. The weeks of political stalemate led to the imposition of President's rule on November 13.

Firm on its demands, Sena, the second-largest party in the state, did not hesitate to cobble up with the ideological opponents -- NCP and Congress -- and was given the chief minister's post.

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