Archives for July 2021

Mumbai: Adani Group on Tuesday said it has taken over the management of Mumbai International airport from the GVK group.

The Group last August had announced that it would acquire GVK Group’s stake in Mumbai airport.

Adani Group will have 74 per cent stake in Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, post the stake purchase transaction, with 50.5 per cent being bought from GVK Group and 23.5 per cent from minority partners including Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), and Bidvest Group, it had said.

“We are delighted to take over management of the world class Mumbai International Airport. We promise to make Mumbai proud. The Adani Group will build an airport ecosystem of the future for business, leisure and entertainment. We will create thousands of new local jobs, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said in a tweet.

Later in a statement, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, said it has taken over the management control of Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) from the GVK Group following the MIAL Board Meeting earlier in the day.

This follows approvals received from the Central Government, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of Maharashtra, and the Government of Maharashtra, it added.

Our larger objective is to reinvent airports as ecosystems that drive local economic development and act as the nuclei around which we can catalyse aviation-linked businesses. These include metropolitan developments that span entertainment facilities, e-commerce and logistics capabilities, aviation dependent industries, smart city developments, and other innovative business concepts, Adani said in the statement.

“Our airport expansion strategy is intended to help converge our nation’s Tier 1 cities with the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in a hub and spoke model. This is fundamental to enabling a greater equalization of India’s urban rural divide, as well as making international travel seamless and smooth, he said.

“I believe that the economic value that cities create will be maximized around airports and the cities of tomorrow will be built with the airport as the focal point. This is a fundamental lever for modern world development and the rapid build-out of our airport infrastructure will create multiple employment structures that generate thousands of new job opportunities, he added.

Mumbai International Airport is the country’s second busiest airport (after Delhi’s IGIA) by both passenger and cargo traffic.

With eight airports (in its management and development portfolio), Adani Airport Holdings is now India’s largest airport infrastructure company, accounting for 25 per cent airport footfalls, the company said in the statement.

With the addition of MIAL, AAHL will now also control 33 per cent of India’s air cargo traffic, it added.

According to the company while the world navigates its way out of an unprecedented crisis, post-pandemic demand for air travel in India and the rest of the world is expected to surge.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects global passenger traffic to recover to 88 per cent of pre-COVID levels by 2022 and exceed pre-COVID levels in 2023, it said.

With India becoming to be the world’s third largest aviation market by 2024, the addition of the Mumbai International Airport to the Adani Group’s existing portfolio of six airports, and thereafter the operationalization of the greenfield Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL) provides a transformational aviation platform allowing the Adani Group to interlink its B2B and B2C business as well as create several strategic adjacencies for the Group’s other B2B businesses, it stated.

AAHL also said it will begin the construction of the Navi Mumbai International Airport next month and complete the financial closure in the next 90 days. This new international airport will be commissioned in 2024.

New Delhi: The Income Tax Department has detected “concealment” of Rs 880 crore income after it surveyed the Bengaluru premises of a leading manpower service providing company, the CBDT said on Tuesday.

The identity of the company was not available immediately.

The survey was carried out on July 8 at two premises of the company.

“The assessee has been claiming huge deduction under section 80JJAA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 which incentivises new employment generation, subject to fulfilment of certain conditions such as emoluments paid to the employee which should be less than Rs 25,000 per month and number of days of employment etc.”

“Overall, the survey has resulted in detection of concealment of income to the tune of Rs 880 crore spread over various assessment years,” the CBDT said in a statement issued here.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) frames policy for the tax department.

It said the survey operation, a surprise action where the taxman visits only the business premises of an assessee, found that “even though the emoluments of new employees added were more than Rs 25,000 per month, the assessee has been wrongfully claiming deduction under section 80JJAA by excluding certain components of emoluments of such employees to fit into the eligible emoluments limit”.

The CBDT claimed it was found that “deduction under section 80JJAA has been claimed in subsequent years, even though certain eligible employees were no longer on the payroll of the assessee.”

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday cancelled the Kanwar Yatra in view of a possible third wave of COVID-19, sources said.

It is for the second consecutive year that the yatra is not being held due to the pandemic.

The Indian Medical Association had also written to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami recently asking him to not allow the yatra to go ahead in the interest of the people of the state and the country.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had said that though Kanwar Yatra is part of Sanatan culture, saving lives in the time of the pandemic was paramount.

The fortnight-long yatra which begins with the onset of the month of Shravan by the Hindu calendar goes on till the first week of August and sees a large gathering of Kanwariyas in Haridwar from neighbouring states including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi to collect the holy waters of the Ganga.

New Delhi: The NEET postgraduate exam will be held on September 11, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Tuesday.

In view of a spike in COVID-19 cases, the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test-Post Graduate (NEET-PG) which was scheduled to be held on April 18 was postponed.

“We have decided to conduct #NEET Postgraduate exam on 11th September, 2021. My best wishes to young medical aspirants!” the minister tweeted.

On Monday, the Centre announced that the NEET-Under Graduate (UG) 2021 will be held on September 12 across the country while following COVID-19 protocols.

The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) in a notice said according to the announcement made today by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, “the NEET-PG 2021 has been rescheduled to be held on 11th September 2021”.

“The examination shall be conducted in the morning session, from 09:00 am to 12:30 pm,” it said.

The notice said 1,75,063 applications have been registered for NEET-PG this year and added that admit cards issued earlier for the examination on April 18 will be treated as “null and void”.

Fresh admit cards shall be issued to already registered candidates, schedule for which shall be notified on NBEMS website.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBEMS has increased the number of test cities and centres for the NEET-PG 2021.

The test will be held in more than 260 cities at around 800 centres.

Candidates will be provided with protective face shield, face mask and sanitiser sachets at the test centres. The NBEMS will ensure Covid appropriate behaviour is followed at all times during the conduct of the test, the notice said.

“Candidates are advised to refer to the NBEMS notice dated April 9 for detailed instructions regarding adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour at test centres,”it said.

Mumbai: Prominent musician and singer Lucky Ali Monday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his minister son Aditya Thackeray.

Lucky Ali took to his official Instagram account to inform his fans about the meeting with the CM and Cabinet Minister of Tourism and Environment of Maharashtra Aaditya Thackeray.

In the Instagram post, Ali said Uddhav and he spoke about music and photography. “As an artist to an artist we shared a few warm moments and spoke about music and photography,” he wrote in the post.

Ali also lauded Aaditya for his mannerism and his cheerful personality. “His son minister Aditya Thackeray has a cheerful and happy personality, leaving me to the car and opening the door I felt the respect he has for his elders,” he wrote.

In conclusion, he further stated, “Mumbai is my birthplace and I’m glad it’s in good hands”.

He also shared few pictures of his meeting with the father-son duo.