Indias passenger carriers are suffering from a “double whammy” of a steep rise in fuel costs and the decline in the Indian rupees value, global airlines association IATA said on Tuesday.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the rise in fuel costs was particularly acute for Indian carriers as it makes up 34 per cent of operating costs well above the global average of 24 per cent.

“While it is easy to find Indian passengers who want to fly, it’s very difficult for airlines to make money in this market,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO at the International Aviation Summit being held here.

“India’s social and economic development needs airlines to be able to profitably accommodate growing demand. We must address infrastructure constraints that limit growth and government policies that deviate from global standards and drive up the cost of connectivity.”

IATA’s growth forecast for India indicate a trebling of passenger demand by 2037 when some 500 million people are expected to fly to, from or within India.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Tuesday said it has sanctioned Rs 334.75 crore in August, under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), to West Bengal for 158 minor irrigation and 23 flood protection projects.

The projects were expected to benefit 20,506 hectare covering 3.09 lakh population in 699 villages of the 22 districts while the flood protection projects would address the problem of rapid bank erosion caused by rivers, according to a statement.

The developmental bank said the implementation of 23 flood protection projects would save around 5,080 hectare of fertile agricultural and home stead lands of farmers of 64 villages which are under area of erosion.

With this cumulative RIDF loan assistance to the state government during the year stands at Rs 1,172.16 crore.

The prices of petrol and diesel hiked again on Monday, hitting an all-time high in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Oil marketing companies (OMCs) increased fuel rates for the ninth consecutive day. A litre of petrol is selling at Rs. 79.15 in Delhi, Rs. 86.56 in Mumbai, Rs. 82.24 in Chennai and Rs. 82.06 in Kolkata. Diesel rates on Monday were hiked by 39 paise a litre, the steepest increase since the daily revision in prices was introduced in mid-june 2017.
Diesel prices rose to its highest levels of Rs. 71.15 a litre in Delhi and Rs. 75.54 in Mumbai today. Diesel is retailing at a price of Rs. 75.19 per litre in Chennai and Rs. 74.00 per litre in Kolkata, according to daily price notification issued by state-owned oil firms.

Fuel prices vary from state to state due to local levies. The revised rates are applicable from 6 am on September 3, 2018. The surge in fuel prices is largely attributed to the recent rise in crude oil cost and the high excise duty levied on transportation fuel in the country.

Since August 16, petrol prices have risen by over Rs. 2 per litre. Diesel prices on the other hand have risen by Rs. 2.42 a litre during this period. Diesel rates had hit Rs. 69.31 a litre on May 28, but this record was breached on August 27 and on Monday they hit a fresh high.

According to officials, the spike in rates is on account of exchange rate falling to a record Rs. 71 to a dollar, depreciating by Rs. 2.5 in a month. Also, crude oil has gained $7 a barrel in a fortnight, driven by fears that the US sanctions on Iran will likely contract supplies.

Globally, oil prices fell on Monday amid rising supply from OPEC and the United States, outweighing concerns that falling Iranian output will tighten markets once US sanctions bite from November. Output from the producer cartel of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose by 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) between July and August, to a 2018-high of 32.79 million bpd, a Reuters survey found.

Many analysts have warned that an economic slowdown because of trade disputes between the United States and other major economies including China and the European Union would drag on oil demand, reported Reuters.

(PTI)

San Francisco, Microsoft is redesigning Skype’s interface for both mobile and desktop, eliminating the less used features on the app and simplyfying its core functions like voice calling, video chatting and messaging.

“This past year, we explored some design changes and heard from customers that we overcomplicated some of our core scenarios,” Peter Skillman, Director of design for Skype and Outlook wrote in a blog post.

The redesign concentrates on decluttering the mobile app interface and shifting chats, calls, contacts and notifications options to the top left of the window, providing a central navigation point for desktop users.

Microsoft is also removing the “Highlights” feature which was added to Skype last year and was inspired by photo-messaging app Snapchat. It allowed users to post a thread of photos and videos for friends to view and react to with emoticons.

“Calling became harder to execute and ‘Highlights’ didn’t resonate with a majority of users. We needed to take a step back and simplify,” wrote Skillman.

The video-and-voice platform would now also come with light and dark theme options to choose from.

“We toned down the visual range of the gradients and re-introduced a simplified Skype ‘Classic’ blue theme-adjusted for contrast and readability,” Skillman added.

More updates, focussing around calling, chats and contacts would be rolling out in the months to come, the post noted.

Microsoft has also reportedly rolled out end-to-end encryption for private conversations on Skype that would ensure that the chat content between two people is hidden in both, the chat list and the notifications.

[IANS]

San Francisco Despite Chairman and CEO Elon Musk claiming that Tesla will ramp up production of its Model 3 car to 6,000 units per week, the electric carmaker has reportedly missed the goal and made only 4,300 units in the last week of August.

“Tesla is on track for a production record this quarter but slightly behind its ambitious Model 3 goal,” the ELetrek reported late on Sunday.

Model 3 comes with a base price tag of $35,000.

“Based on the same reliable source familiar with Tesla’s production, the automaker built about 6,400 vehicles during the last week (last seven days) of August (from 24th to 31st midday) including about 4,300 Model 3 vehicles,” the report claimed.

Earlier in August, buoyed by the increased production of Model 3 cars, Tesla reported a revenue of $4 billion in the second quarter of 2018, with $2.2 billion in cash in hand.

“We are proud of our team for producing roughly 7,000 Model 3, Model S and Model X vehicles during the last week of June.

“A total vehicle output of 7,000 vehicles per week, or 350,000 per year, should enable Tesla to become sustainably profitable for the first time in our history, and we expect to grow our production rate further in Q3,” Elon Musk, CEO Tesla, said in a statement.

In July 2018, Model 3 not only had the top market share position in its segment in the US, but it also outsold all other mid-sized premium sedans combined — accounting for 52 per cent of the segment overall.

“Having achieved our 5,000 per week milestone, we will now continue to increase that further, with our aim to produce 6,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by late August.

“We aim to increase production to 10,000 Model 3s per week as fast as we can. We believe that the majority of Tesla’s production lines will be ready to produce at this rate by the end of 2018,” Musk said.

[IANS]

Budget airline GoAir on Sunday said one of its Bengaluru-Pune flights had suffered a technical glitch mid-air and it returned safely to Bengaluru as is the standard operating procedure in such cases.

An airline spokesperson said there were around 169 passengers on board on Saturday’s disrupted flight, who have now been all accommodated on alternate flights.

“Flight G8-283 BLR-PNQ suffered a technical glitch. As a standard operating procedure the captain returned back to Bengaluru. Post landing, all passengers were cared for and accommodated on alternate flights,” a Go Air statement said.

“GoAir sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to its passengers. GoAir is committed to the highest degree of safety of passengers and its own crew members and the crew operated within the established guidelines to provide for safe travel,” it added.

The airline spokesperson said that the flight in question was an Airbus A320 neo plane fitted with Pratt and Whitney (P&W) engines.

Indian aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has grounded several A320 neo planes with P&W engines that were being operated by low-cost carriers IndiGo and GoAir.

(IANS)

New Delhi Automobile major Maruti Suzuki India on Saturday reported a 3.4 per cent dip in sales in August as the car maker sold a total of 158,189 units in the month, compared to 163,701 units sold in the year-ago month.

“Sales during the month were adversely affected due to severe floods in Kerala and heavy rains in other parts of the country,” it said.

In the domestic market, it sold 147,700 units during August, down by 2.8 per cent from 152,000 units sold in the corresponding month in 2017.

The carmaker exported 10,489 units registering a 10.4 per cent drop from 11,701 units shipped out in the year-ago month.

It sold 114,261 units of passenger cars in the August 2018, falling by 1.4 per cent from 115,897 units sold in the corresponding month 2017.

Sales of its utility vehicles dropped by 16.2 per cent to 17,971 units in August, while vans sales were at 13,663 units, decrease by 1.9 per cent over corresponding month 2017.

However, during the first five months of the current fiscal, it posted a 12.4 per cent growth in sales to 813,037 units as compared to 723,618 units sold in the corresponding period of 2017-18.

[IANS]

Reliance Foundation (RF) on Thursday said it had handed over a cheque of Rs 21 crore to the Kerala Chief Ministers Felief Fund and the company has distributed relief material worth Rs 50 crore for the flood-affected people of the state.

In a statement here, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries said the cheque was handed over to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by RF Chairperson Nita Ambani, who is personally spearheading rescue and relief operations in the flood-ravaged state.

Noting how people had come together in an unprecedented manner to help rebuild the devastated state in an interaction with journalists here, Ambani said the Reliance Foundation is trying to help in whatever way it can.

“Today, we are handing over a cheque of Rs 21 crore to the chief minister’s relief fund and we are distributing relief material worth Rs 50 crore, including clothes, dry groceries, medicines, shoes and study material,” she said.

RF had announced the Kerala relief package on August 21.

Since August 14, RF teams are engaged in relief efforts in Ernakulam, Wayanad, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Idukki and Pathanamthitta districts.

High global crude oil prices, along with continuous outflow of foreign funds pulled the Indian rupee to a fresh intra-day and closing low on Thursday.

Analysts pointed out that caution ahead of key macro-economic data, coupled with a rise in demand for US dollars also dragged the rupee lower.

“High crude oil prices have pulled the rupee lower,” Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers’ Research Analyst Rushabh Maru told IANS.

“Most emerging market (EM) currencies were down and this also pressurised the Indian rupee.”

On an intra-day basis, the Indian rupee plunged to 70.85 — the lowest ever mark — against the greenback at the Interbank foreign exchange market. It surpassed the previous record low of 70.65-66 to a greenback made on Wednesday.

It settled at a record closing low of 70.74-75 against the US dollar, weaker 15 by paise from Wednesday’s close of 70.59-60 to a US dollar.

According to Tradebulls’ Director and Chief Operating Officer, Dhruv Desai: “Currently sensitivity of Indian rupee to crude oil prices is very high.”

“In spite of weakening US Dollar since last week, Indian rupee struggled to gain against US dollar as market is pricing in higher current account deficit due to rise in crude prices.”

Apart from high crude oil, outflow of foreign funds from the Indian equity and bond markets has had an adverse impact on the rupee.

Investment-wise, data from the NSDL on Thursday showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold scrip worth Rs 1,379.34 crore.

Besides, caution prevailed ahead of the release of India’s GDP and fiscal deficit data. The key macro-economic data points will be released on Friday.

“Rupee needs more support from RBI or some big global positive news. The trend remains weak until some sizeable intervention by RBI verbal or actual. There is a lot of panic buying amongst importers and equity investors as well who want to hedge the currency risk now,” said Sajal Gupta, Head Forex and Rates, Edelweiss Securities.

“Our macros remain robust but panic is the key factor behind current volatility. Everyone is a buyer of dollars in current market.”

The RBI is known to enter the markets via intermediaries to either sell or buy US dollars to keep the rupee in a stable orbit.

India will be hosting the 6th edition of Bengaluru Space Expo in this tech capital from September 6 to 8, a top official said on Wednesday.

“The space expo on September 6-8 brings the industry and space agencies from various countries on one platform allowing to explore business opportunities,” said S. Rakesh, the Managing Director of Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

At a time when the global space industry is growing with increasing number of private players, it is important for the industry to understand the scope of business in the sector, Rakesh told reporters here.

The biennial space expo, which was started in 2008, is held jointly by the ISRO, Antrix and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The three-day conference over space technologies with the theme “Creating dynamism in Indian space ecosystem” is expected to have about 100 exhibitors, 50 speakers and 600 delegates from various countries including France, Russia and the Middle East region, among others.

“Representatives and heads of space agencies from France, Russia and Taiwan will also take part in the event,” CII vice-president Vikram Kirloskar added.

The expo allows the industry to explore the technologies behind satellite production, design and development of launch vehicles.

With Indian space agency aiming for two launches a month ahead, there is a need for the industry to play a larger role in understanding the business, stressed Rakesh.

The platform will feature panel discussions by the industry and space experts on Indian space ecosystem, launch vehicles — opportunities for industry, space transportation and space infrastructure.

The expo will also have a dedicated zone for India’s proposed maiden manned space mission Gaganyaan, ISRO chairman K. Sivan said.

Of the $330 billion worth global space market, India’s share is only about one per cent, which it aims to increase by stepping up its number of launches, Rakesh added.

(PTI)