Month: November 2018

Airport Authority threatens to seize Sahara’s Mumbai hotel

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In yet another blow to the beleaguered Sahara Group, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has terminated the lease of the posh Hotel Sahara Star and threatened on Friday to seize the prime property situated outside Mumbai Airport.

The AAI Western Region (AAI-WR) slapped a notice terminating the 2002 lease agreement and warning of the consequences for alleged failure on the part of Sahara Hospitality Ltd (SHL) to pay up the outstanding lease dues.

A SHL spokesperson confirmed to IANS that they had received the AAI notice and said: “We are taking appropriate measures to resolve the matter.”

The AAI had already sent a notice to recover the lease amount on November 22, demanding SHL to clear the outstanding amount within a week but the latter failed to comply.

In the latest notice on Friday, signed and issued in the name of AAI-WR’s Regional Executive Director Keshava Sharma, it said that since the SHL did not clear the lease dues, the lease agreement of June 5, 2002, for a period of 29 years, was terminated.

It called upon the SHL to clear all the pending dues running into Rs 20 crore, pending since the past three years or so, by the evening of December 14 and hand over peaceful possession of the entire premises to the AAI.

The AAI-WR also plans to initiate similar action against several other violators shortly as public money is involved, a high-ranking official requesting anonymity revealed.

The flagship hotel of the Sahara Group, Hotel Sahara Star is located on 30,047 sq. meters or around 7.4 acres of valuable real estate on the Western Express Highway, opposite the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).

The hotel boasts of 354 rooms including 25 deluxe suites, a private diner inside a 4,000-sq feet marine aquarium and a tropical lagoon among the highlights.

Originally famed as Hotel Airport Centaur owned by the Hotel Corp of India Ltd (HCIL), a subsidiary of Air India, it was taken over by the Batra Hospitality Pvt Ltd in 2002 on a 29-year long lease.

Along with several other valuable properties across India, this Mumbai hotel was hived off during the NDA-I regime’s controversial divestment policy and taken over by Batra Hospitality Pvt Ltd, whch re-sold it to SHL.

The SHL developed it into one of the prime hospitality destinations in the country’s commercial capital, with added advantage of proximity to the domestic and international airports.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Marriott data breach hits 500 million guests

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Marriott International said on Friday that its guest reservation system has been hacked, potentially exposing the personal information of approximately 500 million guests.

The hotel chain said the hack affected its Starwood reservation database, a group of hotels it bought in 2016 that included the St. Regis, Westin, Sheraton, W Hotels, Le Méridien and Four Points by Sheraton, CNN reported.

For roughly two-thirds of the guests who were possibly affected, the information in the breach included names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers and travel details.

Marriott said some records also included encrypted payment card information, but it could not rule out the possibility that the encryption keys had also been stolen.

“We fell short of what our guests deserve and what we expect of ourselves. We are doing everything we can to support our guests and using lessons learned to be better moving forward,” said Chief Executive Arne Sorenson in a news release.

Marriott said that it reported the breach to law enforcement and was also notifying regulatory authorities.

According to the hotel chain, its internal security tool alerted it of a potential breach to its US database in September. However, it wasn’t until November 19 that Marriott was able to decrypt the information to find out what the contents of the breach were.

Marriott said an internal investigation found an attacker had been able to access the Starwood network since 2014 and it believed its database contained records of up to 500 million customers.

Marriott said it was notifying affected guests whose email addresses were in the Starwood database and was also setting up a call centre and a consumer website.

Following the news, Marriott’s stock plunged, falling nearly 6 percent in premarket trading.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Madras High Court orders blocking of 12,000 piracy sites to prevent piracy of 2.0 movie

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In a recent order, the Madras High Court has directed 37 internet service providers (ISPs) to block over 12,000 websites that exhibit pirated versions of Tamil movies.

The list includes more than 2,000 websites operated by ‘TamilRockers.’

Justice M. Sundar passed the order on Wednesday while allowing a plea moved by Lyca Productions Private Limited, the producer on 2.0.

When the plea came up, Lyca’s counsel Vijayan Subramanian produced an extensive list of 12,564 illegal websites.

The counsel contended that when ‘TamilRockers’ website is blocked, it immediately creates mirror websites by changing an insignificant part of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or any other extension, and are therefore able to reinstate the infringing material with minimal effort.

Subramanian produced a probable list of extension of ‘TamilRockers’ and sought an injunction against all such websites.

According to Lyca, its latest venture is 2.0, starring Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson and others. 2.0 has been directed by S. Shankar.

The producer has invested substantial sums of money in the production of 2.0 and it is scheduled to be released in more than 7,000 screens in India and worldwide, including Chennai, on November 29.

2.0 is releasing in more than five languages, including Mandarin in China.

The trailer for the promotion of 2.0 has been released. The official 2.0 trailer, published on YouTube, has already garnered 13,089,498 views, the counsel said.

While the company has acquired all exploitation and distribution rights including theatrical and music, besides other rights, including TV, internet, digital and home video exclusively, under the Copyright Act, it apprehended that such illegal websites might exhibit pirated versions of 2.0 soon after its release.

According to the counsel, the web pages and websites, which provide such links are multifarious, and are disbursed all over the globe.

Such websites are allowed to be viewed in India through various internet service providers such as the 37 listed in the plea, the company contended.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

PM Modi meets Chinese Prez Xi Jinping, discusses ways to strengthen bilateral ties

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit here and discussed how to strenghten the bilateral ties between the two neighbours.

The two leaders have met twice after their informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan in April — once at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in June in China’s Qingdao and the second time at the BRICS summit in South Africa’s Johannesburg in July.

Modi told Xi that he was looking forward to host him for an informal summit next year.

“Today’s meeting will be important in proving a direction in terms of strengthening our relations,” Modi said.

“Such initiatives are helpful in maintaining the momentum,” the prime minister said, adding that there “have been two review meetings — in Qingdao and in Johannesburg.”

“I express my heartiest thanks to you (President Xi) for taking out time for this meeting,” he said.

After the meeting, the PMO tweeted that the two leaders held productive discussions.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Is your fixed deposit safe in large or small bank?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Fixed deposits (FDs) in banks still play a crucial role in invest plans of every individual. Even with options to invest in market, many still view fixed deposits in banks as a safe and secure way to save and generate wealth. The recent ups and downs in the market has further increased the attraction towards FDs.

However, there exists a noticeable difference in interest rates that is offered by banks on FDs. While older and large banks such as the State Bank of India (SBI) provide interest that tend to be around the 6 percent mark for FDs, the newer and smaller banks provide higher interests rates.

The interest rate for FDs below Rs 1 crore in the SBI range from 5.75 percent for seven days to 45 days, while investors get 6.85 percent for ten-year investment. In Punjab National Bank, the interest rate for a regular FD account ranges between 5.25 percent and 6.25 percent, with an addition of 0.5 percent for senior citizens.

Compared to larger lenders, smaller banks are providing better returns. For instance, Jana Bank offers an interest ranging from 6 percent to 8.5 percent for regular FDs. Similarly, AU Small Finance Bank provides an interest ranging from 5.5 percent to 8 percent on FDs below Rs 1 crore.

The reason behind high interest rates

The main reason behind higher returns from smaller banks is the fact that they are in to attract a larger number of customers to their relatively smaller and newer establishment. Due to this, these banks tend to offer interest rates that are far more attractive than their well-established counterparts.

How to select the right bank

While it’s not wrong to invest in smaller banks, there is a need to be cautious. Rather than depending entirely on these banks, it will be better to invest only a portion of your funds into them.

Similarly, investors should check about the records and credibility of these banks. This can be done by checking the records of the bank, including its CRISIL rating.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on CNBCTV18.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. CNBCTV18.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India’s quarterly GDP ‘seems disappointing’, says economic secretary Subhash Chandra Garg

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India’s growth in the July-to-September quarter “seems disappointing,” Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said in a tweet on Friday.

Earlier, government data showed that Asia’s third-largest economy grew a lower-than-expected 7.1 percent in the quarter on an annualised basis, from a more than two-year high of 8.2 percent in the previous quarter.

Garg, one of the finance ministry’s top officials, however, said manufacturing growth at 7.4 percent and agriculture growth at 3.8 percent were “steady”.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Troubled carrier AirAsia India’s Q3 loss widens on higher fuel cost

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Low-cost carrier AirAsia India on Thursday said net operating loss widened to Rs 290 crore in the third-quarter, hurt in part by higher fuel costs and drop in passenger traffic.

The airline, a joint venture between autos-to-steel conglomerate Tata Sons and Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia Group Bhd, had reported a loss of Rs 16.8 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Revenue rose 16 percent to Rs 458 crore in the three months ended September 30, the parent AirAsia Group Berhad said in an exchange filing.

AirAsia India’s average seat kilometer or ASK, a measure of capacity, jumped 61 percent during the quarter but higher costs offset revenue it earned per seat.

The airline reported a 13 percent increase in cost per available seat mile or CASK, a measure of unit cost, due to higher operating lease expenses and aircraft fuel expenses. However, its revenue per available seat kilometer (RASK) dropped 28 percent.

“India has reported a net operating loss of Rs 291 crore as a result of 61 percent increase in ASK to fulfill domestic demands as well as in accordance with our plan to start flying Indian passengers internationally to our group’s Asean destinations,” the company said in an exchange filing.

The Bengaluru-based airline’s average fare and unit passenger revenue decreased by 15 percent and 13 percent respectively, in the quarter “due to competitive operating environment”.

Its load factor, a measure of seats filled, plunged 76 percent as the increase in passengers carried was lower than the 53 percent increase in capacity, the company said in the filing.

Surge in global crude oil prices also weighed on the airline’s performance.
The average cost of fuel in the quarter was 50 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier, the company said.

Ancillary revenue, which it generates from service fees, onboard meals etc, rose 26 percent to Rs 50.5 crore in the quarter.

“The forward air travel demand is still going strong for all our key markets. We are focused on turning around Indonesia and Philippines next year, with plans for the secondary listing to take place in FY2019 for our Indonesia operations. As for India, our plan is to start flying international,” AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said in the statement.

AirAsia Group, CEO Tony Fernandes and its domestic entity AirAsia India are in the midst of legal battle after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in May filed a case against them over allegations of corruption and breaking rules in obtaining a flying licence.

AirAsia India has refuted the allegations of wrongdoing.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey succeeds Hasmukh Adhia as revenue secretary

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey took over as the revenue secretary in the finance ministry after Hasmukh Adhia retired on Friday.

Pandey said his priority as the revenue secretary would be to increase tax compliance, stabilise the implementation of GST, bring transparency and simplification of laws and procedures for better tax administration and ease of business.

“My priority at this point in time would be to help improve the tax-to-GDP ratio in the country by integration of technology into the entire taxation system, and also making the procedures, rules and regulations simpler so that people have a natural incentive to comply to the entire taxation regime,” he told reporters.

Pandey, a 1984-batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre with over 34 years of experience in state and Central governments, was welcomed to his new office by the outgoing finance and revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia.

Pandey would continue to head UIDAI as its CEO, where he had a remarkable stint of over eight years playing a key role in establishing and steering Aadhaar across the country and drafting the historic Aadhaar legislation.

He would also hold his position as the chairman of Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), the IT arm of the new indirect tax system.

Prior to joining UIDAI in 2010, he played an important role in reforming power distribution system as managing director of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company where he brought down transmission and distribution losses remarkably and helped the state in tiding over massive power shortage, the government said in a statement.

An Electrical Engineering graduate from IIT-Kanpur, he joined the University of Minnesota in 1998 to obtain his MS and PhD in Computer Science and was later awarded Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals by the university.

With inputs from IANS.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US dollar ends sharply lower against rupee

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The US dollar ended sharply lower against the rupee at Rs 69.59 per dollar but the pound sterling finished higher at Rs 88.99 at the close of the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market.

Following are the Interbank forex and FBIL rates :

(In Rs per unit) Unit Interbank FBIL Reference US Dollar 69.59

US Dollar 69.59 Pound Sterling 88.99 EURO 79.11 Euro 79.27 Japanese yen (100) 61.42

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow