Budget 2018-19

  Post signing of agreement, Conditions Precedent will be completed in about eight weeks The Centre has issued Letter of Intent (LoI) to Tata group-owned Talace for the sale of national carrier  Air India . The wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, Talace, last week emerged the successful bidder for sale of government’s shareholding in Air India. The share purchase agreement with the buyer of Air India will be signed soon, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in a tweet. Talace had placed a bid to acquire Air India for Rs 18,000 crore, which involved retaining debt of Rs 15,300 crore of the carrier, and a cash component of Rs 2,700 crore. Post signing of agreement, Conditions Precedent will be completed in about eight weeks. The government will prepare financial statement of the national carrier on a cut-off date before handing over the airline to Tatas. The transaction would be completed by the end of December… Read More

  The schedule is also being drawn up keeping in mind that crew who do not have fixed working days Air India (AI) has said a schedule for vaccinating its employees is being drawn up and all employees will be vaccinated by May-end. The national carrier issued a statement after its pilots threatened to stop work over lack of management support for employee vaccination. “Air India has already held camps on office premises for vaccination of 45 years and above employees. Since May 1, as all persons 18 years and above can be vaccinated, a schedule for vaccination is now being drawn up and it is expected to commence as early as next week. All employees will be vaccinated by end of this month, that is May 2021. The schedule is also being drawn up keeping in mind that crew who do not have fixed working days,” Air India said. The airline’s announcement has brought cheer for its employees and customers alike. “With no health care support to the flying crew, no insurance, and a massive opport...

  Modi said over 300 mn citizens will get the jabs in the next few months in India against only 25 mn people who have received them in over 50 countries in around a month so far. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Monday that the central government will bear the expenses of vaccinating nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first round and suggested that public representatives, a reference to politicians, should not be part of this initial exercise. Interacting with state chief ministers, Modi underscored the enormity of what he described as the world’s biggest vaccination exercise, which begins from January 16, saying over 30 crore citizens will get the jabs in the next few months in India against only 2.5 crore people who have received them in over 50 countries in around a month so far. The two already approved made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines are more cost-effective than any other in the world and have been developed as per the country’s needs, he said ...

  Air India, GoAir, IndiGo and SpiceJet will carry the shots Over 14 tonnes of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines will be flown from Pune in ten flights on Tuesday. The government inked a contract with Serum Institute of India (SII) for 11 million doses and these would be flown out of Pune in the first phase. SpiceJet will carry the first batch of doses from Pune in its 8 am Delhi flight. While the first flight will carry around 700 kilograms of vaccine, the airline is also using its freights to transport the shots to Kolkata, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, and Vijayawada. Air India will be transporting vaccines on its Pune-Ahmedabad flight on Tuesday morning, the airline’s executive director (cargo) Nirbhik Narang confirmed. “Along with Pune, we will also be transporting vaccines from Mumbai. We are fully prepared,” he added. Vaccines will also be carried on IndiGo’s flights from Pune to Chandigarh and on GoAir’s flight to Chennai and Lucknow. While Pune airport will see the bulk of t...