More flights disrupted as neither side blinks

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has issued a virtual ultimatum to the striking Air India pilots, as more pilots have stayed home on Tuesday. The minister said the pilots must return to work by Tuesday mid-night, failing which the airline management will be free to take action against them.

As many as 180 pilots have reported sick in the past four days, leading to cancellations of around 230 flights and massive dislocation of schedules for the airline, which has a combined accumulated loss of Rs 7,000 crore.

On Tuesday, Air India cancelled 110 flights. It also stopped flight bookings till “further notice”, and dismissed media reports about a possible lock-out as “false” and “baseless”.

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Air India likely to suspend operations for 15 days

Flag carrier Air India is considering suspending operations for 15 days, according to media reports. The decision comes in the wake of its executive pilots not resuming work for the past three days, leading to 74 flight cancellations since Saturday morning. AI flies to over 100 domestic destinations and nearly 50 destinations worldwide. The carrier is also reported to have stopped taking any bookings for the next 15 days.

The news could not be independently ascertained from AI. The officials maintained that they shall send a media statement “in a while”.

The discussions between the Air India management and a section of pilots failed on Monday, with the carrier refusing to rollback a reduction in productivity-linked incentives (PLI),

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Swiss hurry tax treaties to get off G-20 ‘grey list’

Switzerland is rushing to sign an additional tax information deal to secure its removal from a tax haven list later on Thursday, when a meeting of the Group of 20 nations starts.

A Swiss diplomatic source said the government planned to sign a 12th double-taxation treaty, fulfilling conditions for being be taken off the international tax haven list drafted by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation & Development. “This is the plan,” the source said.

G-20 leaders agreed to name and shame offshore centres that did not cooperate on tax evasion in April and threatened them with sanctions.

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Air India cuts pay of executives

Air India (AI) on Wednesday pared incentives to its senior staff, but left the strike-prone general staff untouched. The loss-making airline’s board approved a cut in productivity linked incentives (PLI) of about 7,000 executive-level employees, including pilots, engineers and executive cabin crew.

A statement from the Indian flag carrier late on Wednesday said the cut, applicable to all officers in various management disciplines, will range from 25% for those getting PLI of Rs 10,000 or less and 50% for those receiving PLI or flying-related allowances of Rs 2 lakh or more a month. The reduction for those receiving PLI of Rs 10,001 to Rs 25,000, Rs 25,001 to Rs 50,000 and Rs 50,001 to Rs 2 lakh will be 35%, 40% and 45%, respectively. The cut will be effective from PLI payable in August 2009, AI said.

However, the airline, wobbling under a debt of Rs 16,000 crore,

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China will politely resist Obama's G-20 proposal

China will find it hard to object to US President Barack Obama's drive for a more balanced global economy at a G-20 summit this week, but will resist any sweeping reforms that risk checking its headlong growth.

US calls for exporting nations to consume more will shift the spotlight back toward China's managed currency regime and whopping trade surplus after a year in which these were put to one side, displaced by the imperative of recovering from the global financial crisis.

That the United States is ready to put pressure on Beijing became clear this month when, for the first time since time since China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001,it invoked a "special safeguard" clause to slap duties on Chinese-made tires

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Uttar Pradesh bank staff enjoy mini vacation, thanks to 5-day holiday

Even before the actual festive season is to begin, bank employees in Uttar Pradesh went on a mini vacation, thanks to the five-day holiday declared by the state government. From September 17 to 21, all nationalised as well as private banks downed their shutters, leaving both the business fraternity and the common people to fend for themselves.

First it was Vishvakarma Pooja on Thursday, September 17, then Alvida ki Namaz (last Friday afternoon prayer of Ramzan) on September 18 and then there was a holiday for Maharaja Agrasen Jayanti on Saturday, followed by a weekly off on Sunday. That was followed by Eid, on Monday.

RBI regulations say banks should avoid three successive days as holidays. This is meant to avoid harassment of public and is usually complied with.

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Founders of Skype sue eBay over copyright

The founders of Skype have sued owner eBay Inc and an investor group that has agreed to buy the Webphone service, accusing them of copyright violation and potentially disrupting the $1.9 billion deal.

The lawsuit brought by Joltid Ltd, a Swedish firm owned by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, says Skype used its technology without authorisation. It comes on the heels of a legal dispute between Joltid and Skype in Britain over software rights.

Filed in Northern California US district court this week, the latest suit seeks a permanent injunction against Skype and damages. EBay has denied the allegations.

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Apex court allows TVS to sell Flame

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the country’s third largest two-wheeler firm, TVS Motor Company, to manufacture and sell its 125-cc ‘Flame’ motorbike with twin-spark plugs, the technology for which Bajaj Auto claims to hold a patent.

This, however, is not the final verdict and the legal battle will continue, as the bench headed by Justice Markandey Katju referred the larger issue of patent back to a single judge of Madras High Court for day-to-day hearing. It also ordered that the matter be decided before November 30.

The apex court ordered the high court to appoint a receiver, who will keep a record of Flame sales across India.

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Biocon takes regulator to court over insulin pricing

Biocon Ltd, the Rs 1,600-crore biotech firm, has locked horns with the drug price regulator, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, challenging the NPPA decision to fix and monitor the price of its recent diabetes product—Basalog.

The Bangalore-based company has moved the Karnataka High Court against the drug price regulator’s decision to slash the price of its glargine-based (synthetic) insulin analogue for type 1 & 2 diabetes mellitus.

Whether the NPPA was within its limits in fixing the price of the drug would now be decided by the court. Irrespective of the outcome,

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Bookings up 30 percent as Jet resumes normal operations

Bookings for domestic and international flights on private carrier Jet Airways went up nearly 30% since the airline returned to normal operations. The carrier, which cancelled over 400 flights in the past five days following mass sick leave by its pilots, is back in the skies with bookings in full swing.

An official from Jet's revenue department said, "We had a decent number of seat bookings by passengers on our domestic network on Monday. In a day or two, we hope to touch our regular mark of getting over 23,000 passengers to fly with us." Jet's passenger figures declined to 14,000 in the first two days due to the mass protest by pilots on September 8 and in the last two days, the bookings dropped to7,000

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Pilot stir could hit Jet's fund-raising plan

Fund raising plans of private carrier Jet Airways may hit a roadblock because of the ongoing tussle between pilots and management over re-instatement of two senior pilots who were allegedly instrumental in forming National Aviators Guild (NAG), the 650 pilots strong union. Jet had previously on multiple occasions deferred plans to raise additional capital to the tune of $400 million, that was approved by the company's board due to volatile market conditions. The ongoing mass protests of pilots could also impact investor sentiments say financial planners. The carrier posted Rs 225 crore net loss for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 and has been in discussion with investment banks to raise funds by the end of the year. To add fuel to fire, the airline is also loosing out on market share which would disrupt its biggest fund-raising plan. Jet stock fell 3.54% on Thursday to close at Rs 253.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, despite facing a legal notice from Bombay High Court on contempt of court against Jet Airways pilots for halting work, the mass protest leading to a strike entered its third day on Thursday. NAG is likely to meet the labour commissioner on Friday to discuss the veracity of the issue.

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MTNL set to franchise CDMA services, too

In a tacit admission of its lack of marketing prowess in the fiercely competitive telecom arena, state-owned MTNL is increasingly franchising out services in the otherwise highly lucrative Delhi and Mumbai circles in the hope of shoring up its flagging bottomline.

Its latest move has been to invite expressions of interest from potential franchisees to market its CDMA services, currently offered under the Garuda brand. Up until two years ago, CDMA services were a low priority for MTNL as they offered limited mobility. The company has less than 5 lakh mobile users on the CDMA platform.

However, in October 2007, while clearing the dual-technology policy, the government also allowed BSNL and MTNL to offer fully mobile CDMA services. Since then, their interest in these services has perked up.

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Jet strike: government may invoke Esma

Flight schedules across the country were severely disrupted as almost half the 760 pilots belonging to Jet Airways took mass sick leave and struck work on Tuesday in protest against the sacking of two of their colleagues.

By evening, the company had sacked three more pilots, even as their representatives were huddled in a meeting with director general of civil aviation Nasim Zaidi to explain their position. The home ministry has threatened to use sections of the Essential Services Maintenance Act to force pilots back to work, even as the standoff is expected to continue into Wednesday.

As a result of the action, India’s largest airline by marketshare said 186 of its flights were cancelled, including 32 international flights, affecting 13,000 passengers.

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9 power projects to get ‘green’ light

A clutch of large power projects, with a total generation capacity of 39,567 mw, is expected to receive final environmental clearance this month. The environmental appraisal committee for thermal power projects, attached to the ministry of environment & forests, will take up the nine proposals at its meeting this week.

Each of the projects will add at least 1,000 mw to the national grid. The list includes the 4,000-mw Mundra ultra mega power project, a 3,330-mw Adani group project in Gujarat, besides a 2,000-mw ISN International pithead project in Madhya Pradesh.

The committee's approval will enable the promoters to go for financial closure. Environmental approval is one of the major clearances that financial institutions require for the release of project finance.

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Nine months on, Satyam fraud still a riddle

Nine months after the Satyam scam, India’s biggest corporate fraud of $1.5 billion, the investigating agencies are yet to get their act together. On Sunday, corporate affairs minister Salman Khurshid said he was still awaiting the final report from accounting regulator Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on its version of how the fraud unfolded. “I don’t know why it (ICAI report) is not coming. I am not able to understand what the delay is about”, the minister told agencies.

But an FE investigation found out that the process of getting B Ramalinga Raju, former chief of erstwhile Satyam, to court to face final charges will take quite some time. This is because a lot of work is still pending with all the four agencies tasked to track the Satyam accounting fraud. These agencies are the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), ICAI and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

So far, the only step taken by the government for Raju’s trail is the plan to set up a special court for Satyam in Hyderabad.

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Andhra bids YSR a tearful adieu

Lakhs of people on Friday bid a tearful farewell to charismatic Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was killed in a helicopter crash, as his body was interred in his family’s expansive estate here after a state funeral.

The last rites were performed in this rural town in Pulivendla constituency after a galaxy of national leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and leader of the Opposition LK Advani joined a sea of humanity that had all parts of the state to bid adieu to him in Hyderabad.

60-year-old Reddy’s son Jaganmohan (36), the cynosure of all eyes against the backdrop of a succession race for the Chief Minister’s post, was composed with hands folded acknowledging the mourners, many of whom raised slogans like.

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Prime Minister: raising resources key to growth

India will end the current financial year with a GDP growth rate of 6.3%, despite a slowdown in the second and third quarters. However, the figure is lower than the 6.7% achieved in 2008-09. The Planning Commission estimate released on Tuesday comes a day after government data showed first-quarter GDP growth at 6.1%.

The meeting of the commission, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said restoring the growth momentum would require filling a resource gap of Rs 1.6 lakh crore to finance public investment until 2012, the terminal year of the 11th Five-Year Plan. Without mentioning disinvestment in public enterprises, Singh said the plan panel has established the challenge of resource mobilisation. “We will have to give careful thought to the various suggestions made for raising additional resources,” he said.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia was more explicit:

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