AI Express Turns Profitable

Air India is likely to enjoy acche din, as its low-cost international subsidiary Air India Express has turned the corner by reporting net profits for the first time since it started operations in April 2005.
The airline reported a profit of Rs.362 crore during the 2015-16 fiscal, helped by lower fuel prices and improved revenues over the past year on the back of flying more people per flight. The airline had incurred losses of Rs.62 crore during the 2014-15 fiscal.
Profits of AI express has come during the fiscal, when its parent Air India is also expected to make operational profit. The airline also found a mention in PM Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, where he complimented the national carrier for improved financial performance.
The airline's board approved the audited financial results on Wednesday .K Shyam Sundar, chief executive officer of Air India Charters Ltd, the subsidiary that operates Air India Express, said that the turnaround could be achieved on the back of improved operations. “This turnaround should be attributed to the sustained efforts of all the Air India Express employees and the tremendous trust placed on us by our valued passengers. In purely business terms, the positive net outcome may be attributed to record levels of aircraft utilisation, PLF (Passenger Load Factors) and yields achieved in the year. Of course, low ATF rates also helped,“ Sundar said.
Analysts said a government company turning profitable is laudable. “When a private sector company turns profitable in today's time, you compliment it once.But when a government company takes advantage of the situation and turns profitable, it has to be doubly lauded. I say that because any government company has its own systemic disadvantages, which a private company will never have,“ said Jitendra Bhargava, former executive director of Air India. He said the moment a company turns profitable from loss, the company started thinking positive and `that will be the biggest achievement of these improved numbers'.

Trinamool Cong is Now 7th National Party

After winning two consecutive Assembly polls in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee added yet another feather to her cap with her Trinamool Congress being extended the `national party' status by the Election Commission.
Sources in the poll panel, quoting an order, said Trinamool Congress has satisfied one of the conditions mentioned in the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 to be recognised as a national party -having being recognised as a state party in at least four states. It is a recognised state party in West Bengal, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
Now, India has seven recognised national parties -Congress, BJP , BSP , CPI, CPI-M, NCP and All India Trinamool Congress.
Recognition as a national or a state party ensures that the election symbol of that party is not used by any other political entity in polls across India. Other registered but unrecognised political parties have to choose from a pool of “free symbols“ announced by the commission from time to time.
Besides, these parties get land or buildings from the government to set up their party offices. They can have up to 40 `star campaigners' during electioneering. Others can have up to 20 `star campaigners'.
A political party becomes eligible to be recognised as a national party if it has won 2 per cent of seats in Lok Sabha from at least three different states in the latest general election; or in a Lok Sabha or Assembly election it has polled 6 per cent of the total valid votes in at least four states, in addition to winning four Lok Sabha seats; or it has been recognised as a state party in at least four states.
The poll panel had on August 22 amended a rule whereby it will now review the national and state party status of political parties every 10 years instead of the five.
Had the rule not been amended, Trinamool Congress would not have been recognised as a national party as it had not performed well in the Arunachal polls and would have lost the state party status there.

Awaaz-e-Punjab

BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, who quit his Rajya Sabha seat recently , has announced a new political outfit, Awaaz-e-Punjab, along with suspended Shiromani Akali Dal functionary Pargat Singh. The announcement has ended speculation of Sidhu joining the Aam Aadmi Party .
“We have decided to form a new front to fight all forces which have ruined Punjab. A formal announcement of the new front would be made in the next three-four days at a place to be decided soon,“ Pargat Singh, a former captain of the Indian hockey team, said in Chandigarh. Sidhu who joined politics after a career in cricket is yet to quit the BJP .
Sidhu decided to float the outfit along with like-minded people after his talks with the AAP failed. He held a meeting with Singh and Bains brothers of Ludhiana -Simarjeet Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains -both of who are independent MLAs.
AAP was taken aback by the development. Sidhu had in mid-August met AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal at his residence and discussed plans of joining the party . Kejriwal's remarks on August 19 had indicated that things were not going according to plan when he said Sidhu needs “time to think.“
The news of Sidhu forming a political front comes at a time when AAP faces a vertical split in Punjab after state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur was sacked over allegations of bribery. “We have learnt that Sidhu has formed a political front. It is up to him to comment whether they will launch a party or not,“ AAP's Punjab state in-charge Sanjay Singh said.
Posters showing a photograph of Sidhu, Pargat and Bains brothers together were posted by Awaaz-e-Punjab leaders that said the four have joined hands for the politics of hope and faith. “Our battle is against such forces that ruined Punjab,“ they said in the poster, claiming they have been tried and tested and have lived up to the aspirations of people.The poster also mentions a couplet of famous Punjabi writer Surjeet Patar, saying, “So what if it is autumn now, you believe in the next season. I will bring saplings after finding them, and you save the land for flowers.“

Motown: August 2016

Passenger vehicle sales continued to grow at a quick pace in August, as auto makers sent more utility vehicles and cars to their showrooms ahead of a festival season that they expect to bring strong volumes to the industry.
Sales at the country's top 12 automakers are estimated to have grown 16% in the past month to more than 2,55,000 vehicles. These are wholesale numbers as monthly retail sales aren't reported regularly.
Industry experts cited low fuel prices, new launches, especially in the compact SUV segment, good rainfall that is expected to revive the rural economy and higher salaries for government staff for the improved sentiment.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki posted a 12.3% increase in August sales, dispatching 1,19,931 vehicles. Its main sales driver was utility vehicles, whose sales more than doubled last month. In this segment that includes the Ertiga, S-Cross, and Vitara Brezza, it sold 16,806 vehicles. Car sales rose 4.4% to 90,269 units.
At Hyundai Motor India, the country's second-largest carmaker, the growth was 6.7%. Renault India registered its highest ever-monthly sales of 12,972 units in August, more than eight times the year ago period, driven by demand for the Kwid small car.
Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra posted a 29% increase in sales last month.
In the two-wheeler segment, the country's top two manufacturers reported more than 25% growth each. Hero MotoCorp sold 6,16,424 units, including exports, an expansion of 28% over the corresponding month last year. At Honda Motor's domestic two-wheeler unit, sales rose 25% to 4,66,342 units.

16 states ratify GST

With Odisha on Thursday becoming the 16th state to ratify the GST Bill, the constitution amendment is now ready to be sent for the President's assent before being notified as law.
Thus, the pan-India overhaul of India's indirect tax regime has got the mandatory support of more than half the states much earlier than the Centre's targeted deadline of rolling out the GST by the start of the next fiscal on April 1, 2017.
After Goa became the 15th state to ratify the GST bill on Wednesday , decks would have already been cleared for presidential assent had the West Bengal government moved for its ratification earlier this week. It did not do so at a one day special session on Monday , citing “time constraints“.
Meanwhile, at a meeting with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST on Monday , India Inc. pitched for an 18 per cent standard rate. They said this rate would generate adequate tax buoyancy without fuelling inflation.

Government's Capital Expenditure: snapshot

Mfg grows at fastest clip in 13 months

Manufacturing sector grew at the fastest pace in 13 months in August as new orders surged while input and output costs were subdued, giving room for RBI to cut interest rates.
Showing “sold improvement“, Nikkei India manufacturing PMI went up to 52.6 last month, from 51.8 in July . A reading above 50 indicates expansion. A sharp upturn in new business inflows, which expanded at the fastest pace since December 2014, among other factors, pushed the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) higher in August.
Consumer goods producers led the increase although solid growth was also seen in the intermediate and capital goods categories.