Airline passenger traffic zooms by 85%, rate of mishandled bags halves since 2003
Since 2003, global airline passenger traffic has zoomed by 85 percent reaching around 3.5 million in the last calendar year. Given the growth in traffic, one could be forgiven for assuming that baggage-related issues would have risen proportionately. But a report by SITA, a global leader in air transport communications and IT solutions, seems to dismiss that hypothesis. According to the SITA Baggage Report 2016, the rate of mishandled bags was 6.53 bags per thousand passengers in 2015, which is less than half of what it used to be in 2003. And it is said to be the lowest rate recorded in the aviation industry as per the report, which also talks about a 10.5 percent drop in the rate of mishandled bags in 2015 as compared to 2014. A mishandled bag has been defined as a delayed, damaged or pilfered bag which is recorded by either an airline or its handling company on behalf of the passenger. Globally, about one in five passengers carry only carry-on luggage, while a majority of passengers check-in at least one bag. In 2015, the average check-in baggage was 1.2 bags per passenger. “The baggage statistics for 2015 are very encouraging, however, in total, mishandled bags still cost the industry $2.3 billion last year. While this is a 3.75 percent reduction from 2014, it is clear that this must remain an area of focus for the industry,” said Francesco Violante, CEO, SITA. The company has been a pioneer in providing baggage tracking and tracing solutions for the air transport community for more than 20 years. More than 200 airports and 500 airlines across the world use SITA’s baggage management solutions. “Its proprietary BagMessage system delivers more than 2.5 billion messages between airline departure control systems and automated baggage systems annually. And more than 2,800 airport locations use WorldTracer, SITA’s system which traces mishandled bags globally,” read the report. In absolute terms, the total number of mishandled bags in 2015 was 23.1 million, down by almost 5 percent from 24.3 million in 2014. “Taking into account the increase in passenger numbers in 2015, this means the mishandling rate has dropped to 6.53 bags per thousand passengers–a 10.5 percent decrease from the previous year,” the report said. In 2003, the rate of mishandled bags was 13.2 bags per thousand passengers, while in absolute terms, the total number of bags mishandled was 24.9 million. In 2007, the absolute figure had peaked to 46.9 million. Read more: http://forbesindia.com/article/special/airline-passenger-traffic-zooms-by-85-rate-of-mishandled-bags-halves-since-2003/43131/1#ixzz47DcWS9k5
CCI ‘watched silently’ as airfares rose exorbitantly, says Parliament panel
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has pulled up the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for watching silently airlines charging exorbitant fares during the recent Jat agitation in Haryana and also from passengers in general who have to make last-minute bookings. In a report tabled in Parliament on Thursday, the committee sought to know the government’s preparedness to proactively intervene in instances of cartelisation, price parallelism and abuse of dominance especially in the wake of new business models such as electronic and mobile commerce. “CCI, which is empowered to examine anti-competitive conduct not only in India but also on acts taking place outside India, watched silently and only now on being pointed, CCI has woken up and has informed that the issue of abnormal rise in airfare is currently under consideration of the Commission,” the report states. The committee said that it would like to be apprised of the outcome in the case at the earliest. In February, during the Jat agitation, the price of air tickets in certain routes from Chandigarh was exorbitantly high for some time. Earlier, there have been concerns expressed from various quarters, including from parliamentarians, that air tickets were priced very high during certain periods. The committee added that it would like to be apprised of the ministry’s efforts in a system which can proactively intervene in cases of cartelisation, price parallelism and abuse of dominance especially when new business models like e-rail, e-commerce and m-commerce will come. Further, the committee has sought to know preparation of CCI as a watchdog to intervene where the government has/will allow 100-per cent foreign direct investment in e-commerce in the interest of consumers. According to the report, CCI has received 680 cases and out of them, 582 have been decided, 49 are pending and 69 are stated to be under consideration of the Commission. Of the 377 merger filings received, decisions have been taken only with respect to 353 cases. Taylor Hall Womens Jersey
Shell joins the likes of AstraZeneca, to insource software projects to its own centres
Global energy giant Shell has joined the likes of AstraZeneca, Lowe’s and Target to insource some of its software projects to its own centres and reduce the number of its vendors. During the launch of Shell’s first global information technology centre in Bengaluru, its chief information officer Jay Crotts said that they intend to first insource its project delivery capabilities to the Bengaluru centre which he expects to be the company’s largest IT delivery centre by the end of this year. “We do have significant number of outsourcing contracts and Shell is clearly on a path to insource our project delivery capabilities. Our concentration has been to bring it in-house to Shell and actually focus our delivery centre here in Bengaluru” said Shell’s chief information officer Jay Crotts. “We do in-house software development and we will continue and take advantage of the talent we have here to improve the processes. We will also bring in our IT cloud operations which will take us through middle of next year,” Crotts said. Shell also plans to reduce the number of vendors. “We do have a significant number of vendors but my focus is to get it to a fewer number and be much more focused in our delivery ,” Crotts said. Wipro currently counts Shell as one of its big customers Sterling Moore Authentic Jersey
Infrastructure debt funds expected to stage a comeback this fiscal
Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs) could stage a revival this fiscal on the back of lighter investment regulations and more flexibility in raising resources, experts say. Last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had allowed Infrastructure Debt Fund-non banking financial institutions (IDF-NBFCs) -or investment vehicles sponsored by NBFCs with investments from domestic and offshore institutional investors mainly for refinancing debt of infrastructure companies -to raise up to 10% of their total outstanding borrowings through shorter tenure bonds and commercial papers, giving them the much-needed flexibility to manage their assets and liabilities. Analysts said borrowing through a shorter tenure will allow these companies to reduce their cost of funds by timing some of their borrowings through these instruments, especially when interest rates are down. “They can now afford to time the market and borrow cheaper funds,” said Karthik Sriniva san, co-head financial sector ratings at ICRA. “For example, the one year commercial paper currently is less than 8% while a bond of the same tenure is around 8.5%. This will generally mean some cost saving for IDFs, but the saving will be limited because such short-term borrowing is capped at 10%,” he said. RBI’s easing of regulation on borrowing for IDF-NBFCs followed other important measures announced in May 2015. The central bank had then allowed these funds to invest in public-private partnership projects even without a government-backed authority, opening the possibility of even private infrastructure projects receiving funds, provided they have completed at least one year of satisfactory commercial operations. RBI also did away with a requirement for the IDF to sign a three-way agreement with a government agency like NHAI as one of the party, making it simpler for these funds to invest. “The changes in May had eased the asset side of our business because it allowed us to invest of our business because it allowed us to invest even in non-PPP projects. The latest changes will ease our liability side as it gives us scope to raise short-term funds,” said Sadashiv Rao, CEO of IDFC IDF. Three NBFC IDFs -IDFC IDF, L&T IDF and ICICI Bank-backed India Infradebt -are currently active with total consolidated assets under management of around Rs 6,000 crore. However, these funds are still miniscule compared with Rs 1 lakh-crore infrastructure loans given by banks. “The newest RBI regulation will provide these funds with additional flexibility because they can use these short-term instruments to bridge their asset-liability gaps. But this flexibility will not result in any extraordinary jump in these companies’ profits or margins,” said Abhishek Bhattacharya, co-head for banks and financial institutions ratings at India Ratings & Research. Bhattacharya said IDFs face challenges in choosing the right kind of projects because the infrastructure sector has still not recovered fully. He estimated that around Rs 12,000 crore of renewable energy projects and at least Rs 2,600 crore of road projects will be up for refinancing soon, for which IDFs can bid. LaDainian Tomlinson Jersey
Companies will have unique ID to carry out business
Companies will soon have one unique identification number to carry out all business transactions. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the ministry of corporate affairs are integrating their back-end operations to provide one simple identity to companies, doing away with the multiplicity of numbers currently being used by them, a senior government official told. “While this will be implemented at Centre’s level, states will have a unique number under the Goods and Service Tax,” the official said. Corporate entities will no longer require a battery of identity numbers including corporate, employer and tax payer identification numbers once this exercise is done. The move is meant to make processes simpler and facilitate ease of doing business. “It will enhance transparency and reduce any complexities arising out of multiple filing, therefore adding to the ease of doing business in India,” said Ashish Gupta, Partner – Financial Reporting Advisory Services, Grant Thornton India LLP. While the MCA is trying to expedite the exercise, various government departments involved in the process including directorate general foreign trade, labour department are trying to reach a consensus on the most acceptable identification number. “Since it is a multi-ministry exercise it could take some more time,” another senior government official said. According to experts integrating company identification number, tax and labour IDs to form a unique identity will cut on a lot of compliance requirements and filings for companies. This will also save them cost and time. “From regulator’s point of view also, a single number will provide them all the information about companies. The platform would be the single largest database of all sectors,” said Sai Venkateshwaran, Partner, KPMG. Government is also trying to devise an e-signature for companies to do away with the corporate stamp. The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) is using the Aadhaar number to link it with the e-signature of an individual for using it in activities like digital locker a 10MB free personal storage space, linked to each resident’s Aadhaar to securely store e-documents. Government is trying to work out a mechanism where even the companies would be able to use this facility. In order to improve India’s ease of doing business rank, MCA is in the process of making the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) operational by the end of this year. NCLT will replace the Company Law Board and the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, and become an overarching body for resolving insolvencies. It will be the main component of the proposed bankruptcy code as well. India was ranked 130 out of 189 economies in the Doing Business report for 2016, up from 142 in 2015. It has set a target of breaking into the top 100 next year and the top 50 within the next three years. J.R. Sweezy Jersey
UP rolls out major incentives to boost startups
In a bid to boost startups, particularly in the information technology sector, the Uttar Pradesh government has waived off the stamp duty on land purchased for building offices or bulit-up offices, an official said on Friday. This has been done under the IT and StartUp Policy-2016 rolled out by the Akhikesh Yadav government. However, the government has put a rider that these units getting exemptions must commence their operations within the next three years. Similarly, the electricity duty for these units have been waived off for almost five years. It has also been decided to provide grants to these units to contribute to the employees’ provident fund. Fozzy Whittaker Jersey
Single-brand retail: DIPP seeks more information from Xiaomi
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has sought more information from the Chinese mobile device maker Xiaomi to process the application for opening wholly-owned single-brand retail stores in India. “The DIPP wants some more information from the company as there are some gaps in their application. After getting their response, the department will move forward on that,” an official said. The information is important as Xiaomi has sought complete exemption from the mandatory 30 per cent local sourcing norms. When contacted about the matter, the company said: “We have submitted our application and currently it is under process with the DIPP. “We are in constant discussion with the department for small clarifications, and we have not met any major obstacles to date. We are unable to comment further on the specifics of the application as it is still being processed.” After the the government relaxed the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for single-brand retail trading, several global players are showing keenness to open stores in the country. Besides Xiaomi, tech giant Apple and Chinese technology company LeEco too have sought the government’s nod to open stores. As per the FDI policy, the government may relax the sourcing norms for entities undertaking single-brand retailing of products having ‘state-of-the-art’ and ‘cutting edge’ technology and where local sourcing is not possible. At present, 100 per cent FDI is permitted in the sector but the companies are required to take FIPB permission if the limit exceeds 49 per cent. In respect of proposals involving FDI beyond 51 per cent, sourcing of 30 per cent of the value of goods purchased will be from India, preferably from MSMEs, village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen, in all sectors. Xiaomi sells its devices through select e-commerce platforms and retail stores. India is one of the biggest markets for Xiaomi globally specially in booming 4G segment. The company assembles devices like Redmi 2 and Redmi Note at the manufacturing facility of Foxconn, a leading contract manufacturer. According to CyberMedia Research, Xiaomi accounted for 10 per cent of 4G devices shipped in India in 2015. As per another market research IDC, Xiaomi had 3.5 per cent share in overall smartphone segment in October-December. Will Fuller V Jersey
From $1 billion to $750 million valuation, Flipkart’s ‘down’ round in 2012 was at its toughest times
Terming 2012 as the toughest year, Flipkart, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, Sachin Bansal on Friday said the company had to go for a down round of funding as he made the wrong call of delaying raising money on hopes of better valuations. “It was the toughest time for us. We were hoping that if we delay raising funds that was available, we would be able to get a better valuation. However, Flipkart had to raise funds at valuations of $750 million compared to $1billion in the round before it,” said Bansal at TiE Delhi-NCR organized India Internet Day. In August 2012, Flipkart had announced it had raised Series D funding of $150 million from MIH (part of Naspers Group) and ICONIQ Capital. A down round of funding is denoted by investors purchasing stake or shares in a company at a lower valuation than the valuation arrived at by earlier investors. Talking about this little known part of the company’s journey, he went on to add that from the middle of 2012 till the end of the year the company did not grow and had to go back to the drawing board and regroup. “We had to reduce cost and figure out ways to provide better customer experience,” said Bansal. According to Bansal the current financial conditions for startups is similar, but he would not be worried about it. “A lot of times people look at a down round negatively and it is not a pleasant situation for any company, but the fact is that almost every Internet company around the world go through it. Facebook is an example of this. Financial cycles govern this and even today we are seeing much of that happen. Down round for me is not negative and for me business interests needs to be ahead of everything else. These things take care of themselves. I would keep my head down, keep executing and carry on with business,” says Bansal. For budding entrepreneurs Bansal’s advice was that one should raise funds when they can, rather than when they have to. “Do not get into a situation when you really need funds and you get into a situation where you have to look for investors. We have followed this is Flipkart and this was a learning we had in 2012 when we delayed fund raising in the expectation of better valuations. That was a wrong call,” said Bansal. Publicly available data shows Flipkart has raised about $3.2 billion in funding over 12 rounds from 16 investors. Bansal says the company has not thought of listing on the bourses. “I think the depths in private markets allow you to stay longer and every entrepreneur should take advantage of this and stay private longer. This is the trend across Internet companies across the world and I think it is a good thing. However, this is not a formula and depends from company-to-company. We do not need to raise funds and the need to tap public markets will be made at the right time when we need it,” said Bansal. Startups in the country and around the world have found it difficult to raise money as wary investors have tightened their purse. Having braved the financial downturn of 2009 and internal challenges of 2012, Bansal, however, is optimistic. “It is important to remember good times do not last forever and bad times also do not last forever,” said Bansal. Tobias Enstrom Authentic Jersey
‘Many flaws in Mumbai airport PPP’
The PAC has pulled up the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airports Authority of India over several lacunae in the public-private-partnership at Chhatrapati Sivaji International Airport, Mumbai. The main grievance of the panel is that the entire contract was drafted to help the private partner, the Mumbai International Airport Private Ltd, of which, GVK is the main shareholder. On airport development fee (DF) , the panel said the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority is competent to fix it and it expects the regulator to determine the DF in future keeping in view the revenue interest of the Centre in PPP projects and also the interests of passengers. The panel expressed surprise while noting that instead of looking at debt and equity contributions, the Civil Aviation Ministry allowed MIAL to levy DF at the airport for funding/financing the cost of up-gradation and expansion/development of the airport in contravention of the provisions of the OMDA (operation, management and development agreement). The committee also said that neither the OMDA nor the lease deed signed between AAI and MILA demarcated and defined the specific details of the leased land. The report said AAI did not have up-to-date land records. It said the MIAL gained 10.23 acres of additional exploitable land. “The revenue from these activities would not be considered for determination of airport charges,” the report added. The committee noted that on account of cross alignment of the two runways, airport has a design constraint. Ryan Carpenter Authentic Jersey
Mangaluru airport handles 1,650 tonnes of domestic cargo in 2015-16
Mangaluru International Airport handled 1,650 tonnes of domestic cargo in 2015-16. The airport commenced domestic cargo handling operations on June 26, 2015. A press release by JT Radhakrishna, Director, Mangaluru International Airport, said on Thursday the airport handled 1,650 tonnes in the nine months to March 31. He said the airport expects to handle 2,500 tonnes of domestic cargo during the current financial year. Mumbai-based Cargo Service Centre handles the domestic cargo operations at the airport on behalf of the Airports Authority of India. The airport handled around 560 tonnes of international cargo in 2015-16. Radhakrishna asked the trade and industry bodies to use the cargo handling facilities at Mangaluru for exports and imports within the country and to other nations. Jordan Akins Womens Jersey