Flipkart, Snapdeal ask top brands to run campaigns, demand parity with offline retail chains
Facing the prospect of funds drying up, leading online marketplaces Flipkart and Snapdeal have asked their top brands to run advertising and marketing campaigns for them to promote deals and products, demanding the same treatment as large brick-and-mortar chains. While some brands are wary about a backlash from offline retailers, others are amenable to the idea, viewing it as support for an additional sales channel. The strategy will enable ecommerce companies to comply with rules that bar them from predatory pricing, which implies they cannot promote them either, four industry executives said. “Brands are at liberty to discount products and hence any such deals and marketing campaigns done by them will not violate the rules,” said the head of a leading domestic consumer electronics maker. He said a squeeze on marketing budgets had accelerated such efforts. Until recently, ecommerce companies ran all advertising campaigns to drive sales, except those for exclusively online products, which were mostly joint spending. With investors tightening their belts and scrutinising marketing spends, ecommerce firms have been compelled to approach the big sellers, the officials said. The online marketplaces have pitched mainly consumer electronics, mobile phone and apparel brands for such campaigns. These are the top-selling categories online and are estimated to account for 85-90% of their business. However, some large brands are sceptical, fearing a backlash from offline retailers, which are still the largest contributors to their sales. “The marketplaces are demanding that top brands invest on campaigns of deals and products of the brand due to a funds crunch and asking to be treated on par with offline retail. However, we are yet to decide since we don’t want to make any move which antagonises offline channels, which account for 97% of our sales,” said the marketing head of a top white-goods maker. The ecommerce companies, which were one of the top media spenders in India, in the same league as telecom and auto companies for the past two years, have cut down on campaigns since last Diwali, with most of their advertising focussing on promoting the platform rather than deals and brands. This step was taken after investors pulled the plug on ecommerce companies burning money, executives said. While Flipkart declined to comment, an email sent to Snapdeal did not elicit any response till Tuesday press time. Amazon India hasn’t sought such marketing support from brands on its platform. The management announced additional investment in India during its quarterly earnings call last week. The US ecommerce giant has already invested Rs 15,000 crore in its India operations and the company expects the country to eventually become its second-largest market, after the US. Some vendors, which are focusing on online for additional sales and had launched exclusive models or portfolios for this channel, are evaluating such marketing campaigns. Chinese white-goods maker Haier said since ecommerce companies have moved away from predatory pricing and are maintaining prices set by brands, manufacturers will start looking at it as an additional sales channel and provide support for it. “Brands and ecommerce firms will work closely since the issue of crazy prices does not exist anymore,” said Haier India president Eric Braganza. The head of a leading domestic mobile phone maker said since ecommerce accounts for almost one-third of smartphone sales in India, the company is ready to invest on marketing for the platforms to ensure healthy returns. Alexander Mogilny Jersey
Hazardous e-waste: Apple can’t import or sell second-hand phones in India
The government has sounded out Apple that it is in-principle against allowing import and sale of second-hand phones in India to prevent dumping of hazardous electronic waste. This deals a setback to the smartphone maker’s expansion plans in a market where it sees huge potential amid overall slowdown of its sales. “We conveyed our views on the matter and the representatives respected our stand,” a senior government official said. The government’s views come as a dampener for Apple which has aggressive expansion plans in the fastest growing smartphone market in the world where the Cupertino-based smartphone maker sees huge potential. This would be the second time Apple faced a roadblock to importing pre-owned certified or refurbished iPhones in a country where the US technology company seeks out price-conscious Indian consumers to grow its base. Apple declined to comment to ET’s query. The company had sought permission from the government to import second hand iPhones for sale in India, a country where its sales are doubling on-year and where it plans to bring its iconic retail stores too. ET had reported last month that the views of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DietY) views were communicated to the environment ministry and the Director General of Foreign Trade, that it did not support import of second-hand consumer products as it contributed to electronic waste being dumped in India. Handset makers in India had also opposed Apple’s move arguing that the move could potentially flood the market with second hand phones, severely hampering the government’s Make in India program that is aimed at encouraging local manufacturing. The American company, which has about 2% share of the booming Indian smartphone market by volume, has set its sights on India which CEO Tim Cook said separately on Tuesday, had “huge market potential” for its products. Apple has continued to climb in India, and has increased shipments by 56% to make it the second fastest-growing vendor in the top 10 in the first quarter, Singapore-based research firm Canalys said Tuesday. The iPhone and iPad maker is closing the gap with market leader Samsung in the over $300 (Rs 20,000) segment where it grew its market share to 29% in the first quarter of 2016, from 11% a year ago. Samsung’s market share in the same category fell from 66% in the first quarter of 2015 to 41% in the same period of 2016. India is important for the technology giant and it is “really putting energy” in the South Asian nation that will begin rolling out high-speed wireless broadband networks this year, Cook said in a TV interview with a US channel. Cook said that the company has “great innovation” in the pipeline and new iPhones that will attract people in markets like India, equally recognizing India’s massive young demographic as a ready market. “India will be the most populous country in the world in 2022. India today has about 50% of their population at 25 years of age or younger. It’s a very young country. People really want smartphones there,” he said. Comments on India came on the back of iPhone sales growing 56% year-on-year. Ian Thomas Womens Jersey
Snapdeal close to buying Housing.com for $50-$100 mn
Online marketplace Snapdeal is in the final stages of acquiring online real-estate firm Housing.com. According to sources and investment bankers, the talks for the deal were on since December and the deal could be finalised for $50-100 million, the publication said. In December ET reported Housing.com had begun discussions with Snapdeal as well as News Corp, which is a backer of rival PropTiger, for a strategic stake sale, multiple people aware of the talks said, as the Mumbai-based company searches for backers to recover from a year of turmoil which has hurt its standing in the online real estate market. The talks, which these sources described as ‘nascent’ to ET in December, could result in a deal by the second quarter of 2016 and the final contours will depend on the embattled company’s ability to demonstrate growth in its so-called ‘buy and sell’ business, which allows users to not just find property but engage in a transaction online. “It will come down to the best price,” said one of the sources about the negotiations, which are being fronted by SoftBank, which is the largest investor in Housing and online marketplace Snapdeal, said the ET report. Housing’s downward spiral started soon after SoftBank led an investment round of $90 million (Rs 540 crore) in November 2014. The SoftBank funding in 2014 valued Housing at about Rs 1,500 crore. Its co-founder Rahul Yadav engaged in public spats with a prominent venture capital investor, the media, and finally the board of his company, which led to his sacking in July. Drew Hutchison Authentic Jersey
Why ‘Make in India’ when you ‘Fake in India’
Most of us know at least one person who went abroad during summer holidays and returned f launting his/her Gucci bag and Prada glasses. Often there would be a clique, green with envy touting it all to be ‘duplicate maal’ (fake products). They weren’t always far from truth considering how rampant counterfeiting is, globally, when it comes to luxury products. India is one of the hotbeds for the same with every city boasting of at least one popular destination for premium brands at non-premium rates. Buying fake luxury products happens at a consumer’s volition when he wants to meet his esteem needs but not pay the price. It’s called ‘willful counterfeiting’ in industry parlance. And consumers in India can easily get away with it since we don’t have laws that can get one arrested for purchasing fake premium products (unlike France and Italy). The kind of counterfeiting that’s cause for concern however is daily use products such as food, beverages, medicine, auto parts, beauty products, and software. Almost a third of each of these categories is plagued with fakes, giving market leaders always soft targets for counterfeiters sleepless nights. Here’s why: -FMCG and Packaged Food: In 2015, FICCI CASCADE (Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy)released a study that says the government lost nearly Rs 6,000 crore to the grey market of FMCG personal goods. The report also mentioned that 31.6 per cent of FMCG personal goods space is several shades of grey. The number is 21.7 per cent for the packaged foods industry. Which means roughly 1/5th of all the packaged food you’re buying may well be counterfeit and posing a serious threat to health and safety. -Auto: 20 per cent of road accidents in India are attributed to fake automotive components, says a study by Nielsen and ACMA (Automotive Component Manufacturing Association Of India). The auto aftermarket is worth Rs 40,000 crore, as per the same study. Fakes account for 36 per cent of the pie. Amid the loss to the government exchequer Rs 2,700 crore per annum – is the incomputable value of the loss of life. -Pharma: India is one the biggest markets for drug counterfeiting, says Zaheer Khan, chairman of EIPR (Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights) an anti-piracy wing that specialises in conducting raids to bust these rackets. Khan and his team conduct two to three raids every day, across the country. In one of these, they found lifesaving drugs being produced in a cement mixer. “The level of hygiene was deplorable. Later we found the drug had salt at 100 times its recommended value. You often find such cases in baby products as well,” says Khan. -Beverages: Be it alcoholic or non-alcoholic, the death toll due to fake products in both categories is alarming. “About a decade ago, when returnable glass bottles used to be the primary package for the beverage industry, it was grappling with the manufacture and sale of spurious products. It’s relatively easy to fill and seal fake beverages in glass bottles,” says Arvind Varma, secretary general of IBA (Indian Beverage Association). With consumer preference shifting to PET packs (they are now 65% of the market), the issue is more of counterfeit rather than spurious products, he adds. You can’t even expect consumers to catch the fakes. Often packaging material gets leaked out of the company’s own supply chain. “The dubious manufacturer picks original packaging from the recycled market and refills it with substandard liquid. Bottle caps are easy to imitate anyway,” says Anurag Kashyap, partner – fraud investigation & dispute services at EY (Ernst & Young). Some Chinese counterfeit imports contain addresses of Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) or Haridwar (Uttarakhand) on their packaging instead of ‘Made in China’.This ensures the consumer doesn’t get suspicious given these are popular manufacturing destinations in the country. Apply this methodology to any branded commodity and you have a ready reckoner on ‘How to make a successful fake’. -Tales of Online Fakery: Several reports have indicated how counterfeiting has been spreading to the online luxury space. But with the ecommerce #BigSaleDay hysteria, several other product categories have also come under the grey cloud. “25% of all the products available online would be counterfeit,” says Dinesh Anand partner and leader of forensic services at PwC India. But that’s just his personal assessment, he’s quick to add. Drugs, electronic appliances, and tech products are the worst affected. Says Rajesh Gupta, country manager – India and SAARC for SanDisk: “Counterfeit products were typically sold at known hot spots in each city: outside railway stations or weekly markets, where consumers are in a hurry and it is not easy to trace back the seller. Now counterfeiters are also becoming active on e-commerce. Some unmanaged online marketplaces are abused by counterfeiters where they exploit anonymity to sell with sense of impunity.” Sites ending with url extensions like ‘.tld’ and ‘.brand’ are usual suspects we hear easy to go unnoticed by an ordinary user. No wonder all the major ecomm brands are devising measures to check the penetration of fake sellers on their sites. Delisting is common. Amazon does it regularly. Flipkart apparently delisted 100 sellers as of last October. They also have a ‘mystery shopping’ activity where employees buy products to check how fake-proof the system is. -Who Will Bring On The Counter Strike? It’s a hard task considering this mammoth industry grows irrespective of the mini holocausts it’s subjected to by way of raids and arrests. As EY’s Kashyap says, “These are not entrepreneurs who want to grow in one line of business. They switch to producing whichever brand’s packaging material is readily available.” Every day 100 websites shut down but 100 others mushroom as well, adds PwC’s Anand; a given in a huge margin and extremely low risk business. It’s not that we don’t have adequate laws in place. “But stricter enforcement has always been the problem,” says Dipankar Barkakati, additional director and head – IPR & FICCI CASCADE at FICCI. Factors like resource crunch, the
Flipkart stake marked down 20% further by 2 investors
Two of Flipkart’s mutual fund investors have further marked down the value of their holdings in the company by 20%, the funds have disclosed in recent days. Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II, a mutual fund managed by Fidelity Investments has marked the value of their Flipkart shares at $82 per unit for the February ended quarter, down 21.1% from $103.97 per unit assigned to them at the end of November 2015. Valic Co, on the other hand, has marked the value of their Flipkart shares at $98.19 per unit for the February ended quarter, down 20.2% from $123.11 assigned to them at the end of November 2015. This is the second consecutive markdown from both the mutual funds. Fidelity and Valic had earlier marked down their holdings in the company by 24% and 12% respectively in the previous quarter. The markdown pegs Flipkart’s valuation between $9.2 billion to $10.7 billion, as compared to the $15.2 billion when it last raised capital in July 2015. This follows a 15% markdown by T Rowe Price-managed mutual fund last month and a 27% markdown by Morgan Stanley-backed mutual fund in February this year. Valic and Fidelity had picked up shares in Flipkart as a part of its series D round of funding in 2013, when the India’s largest e-commerce player had raised $360 million in two tranches. These markdowns comes amid a tough fundraising climate and will likely make it tougher for Flipkart to raise funds at its preferred valuations and force it on the back foot in its ongoing fundraising negotiations with investors. Flipkart has been looking to shore up a new round of funding since late 2015 to maintain its leadership position in India against rival Amazon who has infused at least Rs 6,700 crore since January 2015 into its India unit, with over half of that amount being invested since December. Earlier this week, Flipkart co-founder and executive chairman Sachin Bansal hinted at a tougher financial climate, but also attributed it to regular financial cycles. “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. In 2012, we raised at a billion (dollar valuation) and $750 million after that. A lot of times financial cycles govern this and even today we are seeing some of that happen.” Bansal said at TiE Delhi-NCR organized India Internet Day. “The way I think about it is we need to keep our business interests ahead of everything else. We need to make sure the business is well capitalized and it is growing at a healthy pace. In long term, all these things wouldn’t matter. I would therefore keep my head down and keep executing. If the business needs funds, raise the minimum possible at the available terms and move on” Bansal said. We’ve written to Flipkart for a comment and will update once we hear back. David Andrews Authentic Jersey
India Becoming Major Area of Aerospace Manufacturing Growth
India’s aerospace and defense manufacturing sector continues to grow and expand through partnerships, new factories and research facilities. In recent months, there has been a flurry of activity in the country helping to build another one of the world’s major aerospace hubs. A lot of what is driving expansion and growth of the aerospace and defense industry is the government’s “Make in India” initiative, a push for airframe manufacturers to increasingly use aerospace suppliers based in the country. The initiative also aims for a certain percentage of the aircraft to be produced in India. One company that is witnessing a rapidly expanding presence in the region, after recently establishing a new production facility in the country, is Aequs, a precision aerospace sheet metal fabrication, assembly and forging aerospace supplier for Airbus, Boeing, and other OEMs. Last year, Aequs became the first Indian-based aerospace manufacturer to expand to North America by acquiring Texas-based T&K Machine, and in February 2016 followed up with the acquisition of French landing gear and engine test manufacturing company, SIRA Group. Aravind Melligeri, chairman and CEO of Aequs, told the company is currently focused on growing its partnership with Airbus as well. “Aequs has a long standing relationship with Airbus and has produced detail machined parts for its single-aisle, long-range and large aircraft since 2009,” said Melligeri, who believes the company is well positioned to support Airbus’ India sourcing strategy. Recently, Srinivasan Dwarakanath, Airbus India CEO, commented the company intends to source components worth $2 billion over the next five years from India. Not to be outdone, Boeing also has continued to expand its footprint in the country in the form of the Boeing Research and Technology India Center, which is the Indian counterpart to its research and technology organization in the United States. In April, Boeing India held its third annual National Aeromodelling Competition, which attracted 215 teams and more than 670 engineering students who turned out to demonstrate their aerospace modeling skills. The competition also served to encourage young engineering professionals toward careers in aerospace. The world’s largest airframe manufacturer is also competing with Lockheed Martin to produce fighter jets in India and provide a fleet of 126 fighter jets under its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program. In April, Boeing also awarded a contract to produce titanium forgings on the 777X to India’s Bharat Forge, which already supplies titanium flap-track forgings for the Boeing 737 and will also supply forgings on the 737 MAX. “As we see the [Aerospace and Defense] A&D industry in India growing and evolving, it has attracted major global players in the space to India. Stronger economic growth, more favorable offset policies, cost advantages, and a robust talent pool has served to increase the interest from global manufacturers. More importantly, these factors are fueling growth in the private sector whereas, traditionally, aerospace capabilities have been largely centered on the public organizations such as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL),” said Melligeri. Early in 2016, several large-scale projects and joint ventures also served to prove that production in both the commercial and military segments will strongly support the future of India’s aerospace manufacturing sector. For example, at the Invest Karnataka 2016 summit in February, Reliance Defense Limited announced plans to launch a global aerospace technology research center in Bengaluru. Reliance also signed a cooperation agreement with Ukrainian airframe manufacturer Antonov in March to produce dual version air transport aircraft capable of supporting both military and commercial operations in India. “Low-level tactical missions by this aircraft are aided by modern-day avionics and navigation systems powered by fly-by-wire systems in all weather round-the-clock operations. India has a requirement of over 200 medium-lift turbofan aircraft, which is the backbone of all tactical logistic Transport Support Roles (TSR) as well as Route Transport Roles (RTR) of the Air Force, Army and paramilitary forces,” Reliance said in a statement accompanying the announcement of its new partnership with Antonov. The two companies also believe a medium-category aircraft such as this can address the gap in regional air transport connectivity for India to support “350 unused airstrips currently available across the country.” One area where India will need to improve in terms of growth will be Air Traffic Management (ATM) ground infrastructure modernization. Domestic air traffic in India increased by 22.9 percent in January, the highest among all countries tracked by the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) monthly air traffic report. By 2034, IATA projects India will account for 367 million air travelers. IATA has been critical of a proposed mandate from India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) included in the draft of its National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) released toward the end of 2015. The mandate would require operators registering new aircraft in India beginning April 1, 2017 to equip their aircraft with GPS-Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN)-enabled Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) receivers. GAGAN is India’s satellite-based navigation system. “The draft policy would mandate aircraft use of a particular type of technology — known as the Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) — that would bring no operational benefits beyond the existing avionics. The SBAS stipulation would therefore just add cost. And though India has made remarkable progress in many areas of air navigation, there are other aspects that would benefit from additional impetus, such as the implementation of approach procedures at instrument runways,” IATA said in an April report advocating a revision of the draft policy. Regardless of the country’s air navigation policy, India has certainly become a major aerospace hub. “India’s aerospace industry growth indicates that the country is rapidly building capabilities to emerge as a preferred destination to support the global A&D supply chain,” said Melligeri. “With the government opening up and providing enormous opportunities to the private sector, many global and domestic players are collaborating and having joint ventures for manufacturing of aero components, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities for civil and military aviation sectors, besides overhaul and maintenance of aero engines. India is also fast emerging as a center for engineering and design
Air India no longer making loss: Aviation Minister
The beleagured airline has recorded profits for the first time in 10 years. Coming to the defence of the beleagured Air India, government on Tuesday said that the performance of Air India has improved and it is making profit for the first time in 10 years. “Air India’s all-time performance has increased. This year it is making profit, which is the first time in last 10 years. It is making an operative profit. Air India is doing good work,” Raju asserted. ‘Zero accident’ The government also rejected the perception about the state carrier being the “leader in emergency landings” and asserted that there has been “zero accident” due to poor maintenance. Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajpathi Raju told the Rajya Sabha that every safety proceedure is followed in the Air India as “no deficiency” would be allowed in flying Indian aircrafts. “It is unfair to say that Air India is the leader in emergency landings… I do not go into Air India bashing at all. It is unfair to say this,” Raju said while replying to questions in which opposition members voiced concern over emergency landings by the planes of the state carrier. “During the last two years and the current year, a total of 120 incidents of emergency landing due to medical emergency and technical reasons have been reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Out of the 120 incidents, 102 were due to medical emergency and 18 due to technical reasons,” the minister said. Of the 120 incidents of emergency landing, 23 are attributed to Air India and the rest to other airlines, he said. “We follow every safety procedure for all airlines including Air India. We can’t risk people’s life. No deficiency will be allowed to in flying Indian aircrafts in the sky,” he said. Replying to a question by Congress leader Ambika Soni, the Civil Aviation Minister said all incidents due to technical reasons investigated by DGCA and Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and safety recommendations emanating from the investigation reports are followed up for implementation with the concerned agencies so as to prevent recurrence of similar incidents in future. He also asserted that Air India is making profit “for the first time in last 10 years” even as he stated that the aviation safety rating of India was downgraded during the UPA regime, a remark which drew sharp reaction from Congress members. Chris Wormley Authentic Jersey
The challenges facing India’s civil aviation sector
n 1994, the then Government of India repealed the Air Corporations Act, 1953 and replaced it with the Air Corporations (Transfer of Undertaking and Repeal) Act, 1994 thus enabling private companies to operate scheduled services at domestic locations. This was part of the broader liberalisation reforms that started in 1991. Today, India has the fastest growing domestic aviation market in the world, as per the International Air Transport Association (IATA). India’s domestic air passenger demand grew by 28.1% (July 2015) as compared to the previous year. This growth is three times as compared to China’s (10.9%) growth and five times as compared to United States’ (5.9%) growth during the same period. Forecasted growth for India’s domestic traffic is expected to be around 15% for the current year. By all means, India seems to be on a cusp of a civil aviation revolution. Aviation Industry in India holds around 69% of the total share of the airlines traffic in the region of South Asia. This time period, thus, is critical for the industry and requires serious governance and leadership to create global Indian institutions. The finance minister in his budget speech talked about the Government’ intention of drawing up an action plan for revival of 160 unserved and underserved airports which can be revived at an indicative cost of Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore each. Nanded airport is one such airport which is in dire need of Central Government’s attention. Nanded is a major Sikh pilgrimage centre and home to the Sach Khand Huzur Sahib Gurdwara, the place where Guru Govind Singh’s ashes were buried. This is also one of the Five Takhts of Sikhism and therefore most important from a pilgrimage perspective. Visitors from across India and world over arrive here in large numbers all through the year. There is an urgent need to develop this airport and ensure connectivity at least through the national career, the Air India. The Rs 50 – Rs 100 crore required to make Nanded Airport operational is only a fraction of the cost of Maharashtra’s CM international air travels. While the domestic demand for air travel has increased considerably in the last few years, the Government has done little to actually help it achieve its true potential. Government has not reduced the jet fuel prices in proportion to the fall in international crude oil prices. Services provided at all Indian airports except the major ones continue to be far below the global standards. The airport connectivity with the cities is extremely limited. However, no government’s failure comes even close to its failure in revamping the country’s national carrier, the Air India. Air India continues to bleed losses to the tune of Rs. 2,636 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 5,859 crore in the year 2014-15. Government has once again been forced to inject a sum of Rs. 22,280 crore in March 2016 to keep the airlines afloat. So far, the Indian government has pumped in more than Rs 30,000 crore in the airline. As of December 2015, the 85-year-old airline’s debt stood at over Rs 50,000 crore. Adding to this, it has been steadily losing market share to rivals from the 35% share in 2007 to 16% in early 2016. There was a time not too long ago when Air India set the global standard for customer service. Now, it seems to have fallen far behind its Middle Eastern and South Asian counterparts in terms of quality services and business excellence. Only about 2% of the Indian population currently travels by air. Airbus, the world’s second-largest aircraft-maker, believes India’s civil aviation industry will grow by over 9.5% in the next 20 years while US-headquartered Boeing expects a demand for 1,740 planes in India in the same time period. That’s an opportunity that Air India can’t afford to miss. The expansion of India’s aviation sector also brings with itself a number of security challenges including prevention of terrorism. The world watched in horror how Brussels airport was attacked by suicide bombers on 22nd March 2016. We can’t allow any such incidents in India. In this context, a recent report by a department related to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture raises deep concerns by suggesting that 27 functional airports in the country are protected by forces other than the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). The report said it was “quite scary to know that the security of eight of our hyper-sensitive and 19 of our sensitive airports are not covered by the CISF that has now become the only specialised force for aviation security”. The report said that – “Explanations given to the committee for non-deployment of CISF at remaining airports were lack of funds”. In the present day world where the terrorists are always a step away from creating havoc and taking hundreds of innocent lives, the Government is best advised to not compromise with the security of Indian citizens and provide the CISF with necessary resources. The last few years have seen a significant improvement in photography and drone technology. A number of countries around the world are trying to minimise the threats posed by drones by regulating the usage of drone technology. Recently, a person was captured with a small sized drone flying around the Prime Minister’s house. Repetition of such an incidence can’t be tolerated under any circumstances. To this effect, I have introduced a private member bill which aims to ensure that advancement in photography and drone technology doesn’t make our skies more vulnerable. The number of drones is only going to rise in future and there is an urgent need for the Government to bring a pre-emptive legislation to ensure the safety of our skies. To summarise, triggered by the reforms that started almost 2 decades back, India’s civil aviation sector is ready to become one of the largest in the world. While the opportunities are immense, the vulnerability of our skies has also grown manifolds. The Government needs to come up with a
House panel for fixing upper limit for economy class airfares
A parliamentary panel recommended for fixing of an upper limit for the economy class airfares to curb the exorbitant air fares during the peak tourist seasons. The panel, headed by Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kanwar Deep Singh, also recommended to the ministry to ensure that airlines pass on the benefit of the 50 per cent reduction in jet fuel price to the consumers by way of slashing fares. The Committee also noticed the airfares are exorbitant during the peak tourist seasons which are also causing hindrance to passenger flow in the country. The Committee also recommends that, in view of the predatory charges levied by the airlines during peak times, the Government should fix an upper limit especially in the economy class of airfares so that there should not be unhealthy practice of raising fares exorbitantly by the airliners, the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture said in its 231st report, tabled in Parliament on Friday. Suggesting the Government for launching more flight to the Middle East (where a large number of Indian expats live) especially during the summer holidays to accommodate the peak season demand, the panel said that the Prime Minister in one of his visits to Middle East has already asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation to do something about such prices. Prime Minister had last August expressed concern over predatory pricing by the domestic carriers after he reportedly received a representation that airfares are high during the Onam festival that is celebrated in Kerala. The Committee received numerous complaints about high air fares and high charges levied by airlines and airports operators making it very expensive for the air travelers, the report said. The Committee received comments from the Ministry of Civil Aviation in this matter…Predatory pricing of airfare is hurting not only the individual passenger but country’s economy as well. The explanation given by the Ministry of Civil Aviation is purely technical suggesting that they are unable to do anything under existing laws, it said. Jordan Berry Womens Jersey
Flyers at receiving end as govt, opposition spar over aviation policies
Opposition members in the Lok Sabha have lashed out at private airlines for not passing on benefits of falling fuel prices to passengers while the ruling BJP members blamed the Congress-led UPA government for the financial problems faced by state-run Air India . Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jagdambika Pal also demanded that to do away with air traffic congestion over the Delhi airport especially at peak hours, a new airport should be built to cater to the national capital region, while some members called for a new aviation policy. Congress leader KC Venugopal said airlines have not passed on the benefits of fall in fuel prices to passengers and they were looting the passengers. Initiating the discussion on Demands for Grants for the ministries of civil aviation and tourism, he said the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel has come down resulting in huge benefits to airlines but at the same time common people and passengers continued to suffer. He claimed even Air India has benefitted from fall in ATF prices and demanded from the government what actions it proposed on high air fares. The Congress member was soon supported by lawmakers from other parties. Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy urged the the government to rein in the rising airfares. “I feel that the government should have a role in having some regulations,” he said. He also said it is high time the government frames a new aviation policy. Among others, P.D. Rai of Sikkim Democratic Front alleged that most airports are managed in PPP project and private sector partners were found wanting in their role. Among others, expelled Rashtriya Janata Dal member Rajesh Ranjan, RJD’s Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav and Janata Dal-United’s Kaushalendra Kumar also spoke. “I want to know from the minister when will Air India be back on its feet?” Kumar asked. Venugopal criticised the government for reducing budgetary allocation to Air India, a charge denied by BJP and other NDA members. The Congress member requested the central government to expedite Kerala government’s proposal to launch Air Kerala to help citizens of the state going to the Gulf countries. BJP member Dushyant Singh said the financial mess in Air India was started by the erstwhile UPA dispensation, and denied that fund allocation to the national carrier has been reduced by the Narendra Modi government. Singh flayed Congress government for the merger of Indian Airlines and Air India. Christian Okoye Authentic Jersey