Bertrand D'Souza, Editor of Overdrive answers all your motoring queries on Auto Selector segment.
Bertrand D'Souza, Editor of Overdrive answers all your motoring queries on Auto Selector segment.
Also watch the accompanying video for what's been happening in the world of auto.
‘Cash-strapped', 'struggling to stay afloat' -- phrases like these still continue to haunt India's national carrier Air India.
But how can the airline resurrect itself? Data shows that going local and cutting down on international flights could turn out to be the single-biggest cost-saving measure. But is the airline and the government listening? CNBC-TV18's Sohini Dutt and Sindhu Bhattacharya report.
Indigo is the king of the Indian skies, Jet Airways is firming up its domestic operations, Vistara is up and running: where does this leave Air India?
Here's why the national carrier should focus on domestic routes instead of mindless overseas expansion.
Air India deploys just 25 percent of its capacity on domestic flights but they account for nearly 40 percent of its revenues. Not just that: the airline earns Rs 6 revenue per passenger on domestic routes against just Rs 3.50 for every international passenger.
This is a clear proof that the Maharaja must consolidate his grip on the domestic turf first. Air India has undertaken some work already by cutting down flights to Moscow, Dhaka and others. But a lot more is still to be done.
Consider this: During the 10 months of FY15 under review, the airline has lost a whopping Rs 500 crore rupees on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Newark connection.
Another Rs 200 crore rupees has gone down the drain on the Delhi-Sydney-Melbourne connection, which was started with much fanfare.
The Ahmedabad-Mumbai-London flight led to Rs 250 crore losses, and the Amritsar-Delhi-London flight accounted for Rs 200 crore losses.
In fact, the 39 international flights forced the airline to incur 70 percent of its operational loss in 10 months FY15.
The Dholakia committee had recommended that the restructuring or axing loss-making flights will be the single biggest cost saver.
The committee had pegged that Rs 580 crore can be saved each year by restructuring loss-making flights and another Rs 450 crore rupees can be saved by dynamic pricing.
The Dholakia committee had laid out a roadmap for the airline to save over Rs 3,200 crore in costs. But there is no clarity if these measures will be followed.
If Air India wants to be a force to reckon with: retaining the local flavour looks like the best bet.
Today Future Group is a retail conglomerate worth over USD 2 billion and Kishore Biyani an entrepreneur whose right brain rules over the left says he scratched only the surface of modern retail in India.
Today Future Group is a retail conglomerate worth over USD 2 billion and Kishore Biyani an entrepreneur whose right brain rules over the left says he scratched only the surface of modern retail in India.
For more, watch accompanying videos.
Launching an attack on opposition parties for "misleading the nation" on the land acquisition bill by running a false campaign against it, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed the UPA's government's 2013 act as anti-farmer and said his government seeks to correct its contentious issues.
Launching an attack on Opposition parties for "misleading the nation" on the Land Acquisition Bill by running a false campaign against it, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed the UPA's government's 2013 Act as anti-farmer and said his government seeks to correct its contentious issues.
Jaitley was speaking at the National Executive meeting of the BJP in Bangalore where he made a detailed presentation of the Land Bill.
While maintaining that the government was open to suggestions to improve its version of the bill, the FM said the legislation, which has so far failed to pass muster with the Rajya Sabha, was "essential for the development of rural India" and added that it would boost industrialization, which would create greater employment opportunities. (The government yesterday repromulgated an ordinance yesterday to increase the bill's shelf life by another few months.)
The government is locked in combat with opposition parties with respect to the new bill, which seeks to drop need for owners' consent and an impact study, for acquiring land for purposes such as public-private partnerships, etc.
The government says the clause of the UPA's 2013 land law, which the current bill seeks to modify, required 70 or 80 percent consent as well as an impact study, hampered the land acquisition process.
‘Cash-strapped', 'struggling to stay afloat' -- phrases like these still continue to haunt India's national carrier Air India.
But how can the airline resurrect itself? Data shows that going local and cutting down on international flights could turn out to be the single-biggest cost-saving measure. But is the airline and the government listening? CNBC-TV18's Sohini Dutt and Sindhu Bhattacharya report.
Indigo is the king of the Indian skies, Jet Airways is firming up its domestic operations, Vistara is up and running: where does this leave Air India?
Here's why the national carrier should focus on domestic routes instead of mindless overseas expansion.
Air India deploys just 25 percent of its capacity on domestic flights but they account for nearly 40 percent of its revenues. Not just that: the airline earns Rs 6 revenue per passenger on domestic routes against just Rs 3.50 for every international passenger.
This is a clear proof that the Maharaja must consolidate his grip on the domestic turf first. Air India has undertaken some work already by cutting down flights to Moscow, Dhaka and others. But a lot more is still to be done.
Consider this: During the 10 months of FY15 under review, the airline has lost a whopping Rs 500 crore rupees on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Newark connection.
Another Rs 200 crore rupees has gone down the drain on the Delhi-Sydney-Melbourne connection, which was started with much fanfare.
The Ahmedabad-Mumbai-London flight led to Rs 250 crore losses, and the Amritsar-Delhi-London flight accounted for Rs 200 crore losses.
In fact, the 39 international flights forced the airline to incur 70 percent of its operational loss in 10 months FY15.
The Dholakia committee had recommended that the restructuring or axing loss-making flights will be the single biggest cost saver.
The committee had pegged that Rs 580 crore can be saved each year by restructuring loss-making flights and another Rs 450 crore rupees can be saved by dynamic pricing.
The Dholakia committee had laid out a roadmap for the airline to save over Rs 3,200 crore in costs. But there is no clarity if these measures will be followed.
If Air India wants to be a force to reckon with: retaining the local flavour looks like the best bet.
Bertrand D'Souza, Editor of Overdrive answers all your motoring queries on Auto Selector segment.
Bertrand D'Souza, Editor of Overdrive answers all your motoring queries on Auto Selector segment.
Also watch the accompanying video for what's been happening in the world of auto.
Today Future Group is a retail conglomerate worth over USD 2 billion and Kishore Biyani an entrepreneur whose right brain rules over the left says he scratched only the surface of modern retail in India.
Today Future Group is a retail conglomerate worth over USD 2 billion and Kishore Biyani an entrepreneur whose right brain rules over the left says he scratched only the surface of modern retail in India.
For more, watch accompanying videos.
Launching an attack on opposition parties for "misleading the nation" on the land acquisition bill by running a false campaign against it, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed the UPA's government's 2013 act as anti-farmer and said his government seeks to correct its contentious issues.
Launching an attack on Opposition parties for "misleading the nation" on the Land Acquisition Bill by running a false campaign against it, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed the UPA's government's 2013 Act as anti-farmer and said his government seeks to correct its contentious issues.
Jaitley was speaking at the National Executive meeting of the BJP in Bangalore where he made a detailed presentation of the Land Bill.
While maintaining that the government was open to suggestions to improve its version of the bill, the FM said the legislation, which has so far failed to pass muster with the Rajya Sabha, was "essential for the development of rural India" and added that it would boost industrialization, which would create greater employment opportunities. (The government yesterday repromulgated an ordinance yesterday to increase the bill's shelf life by another few months.)
The government is locked in combat with opposition parties with respect to the new bill, which seeks to drop need for owners' consent and an impact study, for acquiring land for purposes such as public-private partnerships, etc.
The government says the clause of the UPA's 2013 land law, which the current bill seeks to modify, required 70 or 80 percent consent as well as an impact study, hampered the land acquisition process.
Market focus will shift from macro to micro next week as economic data winds down and quarterly earnings reports from S&P 500 components including Alcoa take center-stage.
Earnings expectations have been falling sharply in the past weeks, with the most recent estimate showing a 2.8 percent decline in earnings growth, squeezed by dwindling expectations for the energy sector.
Energy companies' earnings are now expected to fall nearly 64 percent year-on-year. Investors saw the sector drop 3.6 percent in the first quarter, bringing the nine-month decline to 22 percent.
Market bulls say softening economic data including US private sector jobs, factory activity and consumer spending have weighed on stocks lately. The effect of the strong US dollar on offshore operations and creeping inflation, in the form of higher labor costs, have also taken a toll - perhaps an excessive one.
"My guess is we've overdone it in terms of concern," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York. "We always price in the bad news first."
He said that both energy companies - pummeled by concern about the sharp drop in oil - and multinationals - suffering from the impact of a stronger dollar - might actually be set for positive surprises.
"In terms of knee-jerk reaction, surprises are going to come from where we slashed estimates the most."
Stocks hold amid sour mood
Despite the rising concern about the earnings season and the weaker data, stocks showed resilience to start the year. This past week the S&P 500 closed its ninth consecutive quarterly gain, even if it was a meager 0.4 percent.
"Estimates are down and the market has already absorbed that," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
"All you need is some positive surprises for shorts to have to cover," she said, speaking of investors who borrow a stock to sell it, betting on a price decline. "Positive guidance can change the tone of the market quite rapidly."
Chipmaker Micron set a negative early tone on Wednesday, forecasting lower revenue for the current quarter on waning customer demand.
More than 80 percent of the earnings preannouncements this season were negative, according to Thomson Reuters data, setting the bar lower than is usually the case towards the start of earnings season.
In a typical quarter about 63 percent of companies beat estimates and just above 20 percent miss.
But the negativity has set the bar so low, it may have set the stage for a bounceback.
"The market has been trying to price in what has been a lot of bad news in the economic data stream and (expected) bad news in the earnings season," Wunderlich's Hogan said.
"We may well have underestimated the positives."
US stocks bounced on Thursday after two days of declines following encouraging data on the labor market, but mixed data this week kept investors on edge before Friday's key payrolls report.
The consumer discretionary sector, as measured by the S&P consumer discretionary index, was the day's best-performing sector. The index rose 0.9 percent, helped by gains in CarMax. The stock jumped 9.3 percent to USD 74.73 following stronger-than-expected quarterly results.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week. The report followed lower-than-expected readings on private sector employment and manufacturing on Wednesday.
The data has given a mixed picture of the economy ahead of the March jobs report, due on Friday, when the stock market is closed for the Good Friday holiday. Stock investors will be unable to trade off the report until Monday.
The Federal Reserve has said it will not raise interest rates until it deems the economy strong enough to withstand such a move, which will raise borrowing costs and possibly crimp spending. A below-consensus jobs number on Friday could ease concerns of a nearer-term rate rise, strategists said.
For the week, the S&P and Dow each rose just 0.3 percent, while the Nasdaq dipped 0.1 percent.
"It's safe to say there's quite a of bit of uncertainty in the market and you're kind of seeing that translate into a lot of volatility with not a lot of direction," said Joe Bell, senior equity analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 65.06 points, or 0.37 percent, to 17,763.24, the S&P 500 gained 7.27 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,066.96, and the Nasdaq Composite added 6.71 points, or 0.14 percent, to 4,886.94.
Micron Technology shares lost 1.5 percent to USD 26.72, a day after the company forecast lower revenue for the current quarter.
Shares of Motorola Solutions Inc fell 6.2 percent to USD 62.51. A Bloomberg report, citing people with knowledge of the matter, said the company has failed to find a buyer after seeking to raise interest from private equity funds and large industrial companies.
The S&P energy index ended up 0.2 percent despite lower crude prices. Oil fell after a preliminary pact between Iran and global powers on Tehran's nuclear program, although officials set further talks in June and analysts questioned when the OPEC member will be allowed to export more crude.
The release of the US monthly jobs report has coincided with Good Friday only four times since 1999, according to data from Bespoke, most recently in 2012. Analysts expect 245,000 jobs added in the month, down from 295,000 in February.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on Thursday on the NYSE by 1,923 to 1,101; on the Nasdaq, 1,643 issues rose and 1,092 fell.
The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and three new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 104 new highs and 35 new lows.
About 5.9 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, below the 6.4 billion daily average for the last five trading sessions, according to BATS Global Markets.
