Tag: ICRA

ICRA report says air passenger traffic in India to reach 407-418 million this fiscal year

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

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Air passenger traffic in the country is projected to touch record levels in the range of 407-418 million in the current financial year and the revenues of select airport operators together are estimated to rise 15-17% during the same period, rating agency ICRA said on Thursday, May 16. Surpassing the pre-Covid level by 10%, the traffic reached 376.4 million in the fiscal ended March 2024.

In a report, ICRA said the overall traffic is expected to see a healthy growth of around 8-11% year-on-year to around 407-418 million in FY2025, supported by strong pick-up in both leisure and business travel, improving connectivity to newer destinations in the domestic segment and the continued uptick in international travel. Indian airport operators’ revenue is anticipated to grow 15-17% on an annual basis in the current fiscal ending March 2025, it added.

ICRA’s sample set of airport operators include Airports Authority of India (AAI) as well as operators of Delhi, Hyderabad, and Cochin international airports. “The recovery in the Indian airport passenger traffic is one of the best compared to other major global counterparts. India accounted for 4.2% of the global passenger traffic in CY2023, and its share in passenger traffic has improved from 3.8% in CY2019.”

“While the global passenger traffic recovered to just 96% of global passenger traffic in CY2023, the Indian airport passenger traffic revived to 106% of the pre-Covid level owing to strong economic growth as well as the addition of new airport routes. The Indian air passenger traffic is expected to outperform the global trend,” Vinay Kumar G, Vice President & Sector Head, Corporate Ratings at Icra, said.

According to the rating agency, airport operators, regulators, and other stakeholders have made significant progress in resolving the long-pending issues — cost of equity, return on security deposits, forex losses, and treatment of real estate income.

Also read: Airports Authority of India achieves 100% capex target in first quarter of FY23

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ICRA forecasts 13,000 kilometers of road construction for FY25

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

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Ratings agency ICRA forecasts a 5-8% rise in road construction for the current fiscal year (April to March 2024-2025), estimating that approximately 12,500-13,000 kilometers (km) of roads will be built.

According to ICRA, this year’s growth will be helped by many projects lined up, more money from the government, and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) focusing on finishing projects.

Ashish Modani, VP & Co-Group Head of Corporate Ratings at ICRA, told CNBC-TV18 that the momentum in execution is expected to persist throughout FY25.

Modani highlighted that construction activities are likely to pick up after the second quarter of the year.

“Looking at the current order book, most road contractors and developers are in a comfortable position. We are expecting things to ramp up quite substantially post-quarter two. Basically quarter one is always a lean quarter, quarter two again, because of the monsoon, the construction activity gets hampered and we expect a very strong ramp up again from quarter three onwards,” he said.

The ministry’s project award pipeline is healthy, at above 45,000 km as of March 2024, per ICRA.

Modani further noted that orders might be subdued in the first quarter due to elections, but expects a ramp-up in activity thereafter.

Read Here | NHIT raises over ₹16,000 cr to acquire about 900 km of road from NHAI

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, India has built about 90,000 kilometres of national highway, almost double that constructed in the previous decade, according to government estimates.

PM Modi is hailing road infrastructure as a major achievement in a general election campaign ahead of the first phase of voting on Friday, April 19.

Capital expenditure on roads increased to ₹2.4 lakh crore ($28.72 billion) in 2022-23 from ₹510 billion in 2013114..

ICRA noted that road execution was impacted in the first half of the previous year on account of a prolonged monsoon in certain geographies, which affected productive days.

This is despite the awarding being significantly impacted in the previous year amid a delay in approval from the Cabinet for the revised cost estimates of Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase 1 (BMP), it added.

Consequently, the overall awards declined by 31% to 8,551 km in FY24 from 12,375 km in FY23.

The ratings agency said the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) mode continues to be the mainstay of this process, accounting for 70-75% of the awards in FY24, followed by Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT)- Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM), accounting for 25-30% share.

In terms of toll collection, ICRA foresees a growth of 5-8% in the current year, with Modani mentioning that growth driven by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is relatively subdued.

Also Read | Nitin Gadkari-led MoRTH issues SOPs for digitising sanction of projects across India

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CRISIL and ICRA forecast more credit upgrades than downgrades this year, optimistic about these sectors

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

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Leading credit rating agencies in the country expect more credit upgrades in the new financial year (FY25) than downgrades.

Somasekhar Vemuri, Senior Director at CRISIL Ratings, told CNBC-TV18 that there were 409 upgrades and 228 downgrades in its portfolio during the October-March period in the last financial year.

“This has translated into a credit ratio–the ratio of upgrades to downgrades–of 1.79 times, and was primarily driven by domestic consumption and government capex,” Vemuri told CNBC-TV18.

Infrastructure and infra-linked sectors including construction, renewable power, road assets and real estate were among sectors that were upgraded.

The downgrades was mostly in some of the export-linked sectors including textile and seafood primarily because of the subdued global demand and higher cost inventory which impacted profitability in some of the segments.

Also Read: Crisil projects India’s GDP growth at 6.8% in fiscal 2025

Vemuri also explained CRISIL’s coin framework, which looks at 26 corporate sectors and 12 infrastructure sectors. Together, these account for almost 72% of the rated debt in the companies excluding financial sector, and hence it is fairly representative/

As per this analysis, he said, 21 out of 26 sectors have a strong to favourable credit quality outlook, accounting for almost 96% of debt.

Jitin Makkar, Senior VP & Head-Credit Policy at ICRA also shared the rating agencies view on the credit quality of sectors under their coverage.

He said 80% of entities in their portfolio saw rating re-affirmed in FY24.

Also Read: India’s real GDP growth likely to moderate to 6.8% in FY25: S&P Global Ratings

“Momentum should continue for the hospitality sector in FY25, and the infrastructure sector, whether it is roads or railways, or defence-related entities. So, whether we talk about these conventional infrastructure pockets, or the new age infrastructure segments, like data centres, FY25 is going to be a good year from a credit standpoint for these segments as well,” he added.

He concurred with Vemuri that the export-oriented sectors are still not out of the woods.

This includes agricultural commodities like tea, cut and polished diamonds, textiles, and some bit of sequential moderation is likely in ferrous metals.

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

Tourism boom helped hotel stocks surge 100-150% in the past year. How will FY25 shape up?

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

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Hotel stocks have been thriving post-pandemic and the rally in the space has further intensified after robust demand boosted occupancies across the segments. Almost all companies in the sector reported healthy operating margins in the third quarter of FY24, aided by strong demand.

The improvement in financial metrics is quite visible in the stock performance of hotels as well. A custom index of 12 hotel stocks has added as much as ₹1 lakh crore to its market capitalisation since the beginning of 2022. While the market valuation of Indian Hotels Co (IHCL) surged the most, with an increase of ₹54,212 crore over the last two years, others like EIH and Chalet Hotels saw their market valuation surge by ₹16,453 crore and ₹12,794 crore, respectively during the same period.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and Group CEO at MakeMyTrip and K Srikumar, Senior Vice President & Co-Group Head-Corporate Ratings at ICRA discussed at length how tourism shape will up in FY25.

Magow said, “All segments of travel have come back, and not necessarily only leisure but the business segment, visiting friends and relatives (VFR), the pilgrimage tour and so on. And that is what, I guess, driving the stocks for the hotel industry as well.”

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Srikumar said that ICRA expects the hotel sector to grow at 14-16% in the current fiscal, FY24 and to the higher single-digit 7-9% in FY25; this is coming on a very high base.

“Occupancy levels are still at a decadal high of 70-72% which will be continuing in FY25 as well. The pan India premium hotel ARR (average room rate); the peak was seen in FY08 above ₹8,000 odd levels that will be hit in FY25 for the industry as a whole, although some of the portals have already crossed all-time high levels in FY24,” he added.

According to ICRA, hotels are experiencing steady growth because it will take some time for the number of hotels available to catch up with the demand. In the airline industry, domestic travel is predicted to return to pre-COVID levels only by fiscal year 2025, although international travel has already reached that point by fiscal year 2023. Tour operators are benefiting from the growth seen in hotels and airlines. However, they still face challenges such as visa issues. Overall, the tourism sector is expected to maintain its momentum and grow more significantly in fiscal year 2025.

In addition to the increasing wealth, there is also a newfound surge in religious or spiritual tourism, fueled by the construction of the Ayodhya temple. However, the tourism sector faces challenges, including the hike in tax collection at source from 5% to 20%, the low influx of foreign tourists into India, visa issues for Indians travelling to the United States, and geopolitical tensions such as those in Ukraine, Palestine, and the Maldives.

Also Read | Air India Express introduces Xpress Lite fares for budget-conscious travellers

In January 2024, hotels in India witnessed a healthy year-on-year (YoY) average room rate (ARR) growth of 11%, with occupancy increasing by 210 basis points compared to the previous year, resulting in a stronger YoY growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) at 15%. Overall, for the first ten months of the fiscal year 2023-2024, ARR/RevPAR growth stood at approximately 15% YoY.

CRISIL Ratings forecasts that the Indian hotel industry is on track to achieve robust revenue growth of 11-13% in the fiscal year 2025, following a solid performance of 15-17% growth in the current fiscal year. This positive outlook is supported by consistent domestic demand and an increase in foreign traveller interest.

Also Watch: Prashant Pitti, one of the founders of EaseMyTrip, discussed with CNBC-TV18 the collaboration with Jeewani Group to develop a Radisson Blu Hotel with 150 rooms in Ayodhya. The company’s investment in this project is estimated to be around ₹100 crore.

For the entire discussion, watch the accompanying video

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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

Domestic air traffic up 8% in December 2023, outlook remains stable: ICRA 

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

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Domestic air passenger traffic rose by 8% year-on-year in December to 1.36 crore, as per ratings agency ICRA. In comparison to pre-COVID levels, the air traffic jumped 6% YoY. The capacity deployment in December 2023 by Indian airlines was higher by 3% YoY, but lower by 4% in comparison to pre-Covid levels. Meanwhile, between April-November 2023, the international air traffic for Indian airlines grew by 28% YoY at 1.89 crore.

ICRA in the note said, “Outlook on the Indian aviation industry is stable on the back of the fast-paced recovery in domestic passenger traffic in FY2023 and 9M FY2024, and expectations of the trend continuing for the rest of FY2024.Moreover, the industry witnessed improved pricing power, reflected in the higher yields (over pre-Covid levels) and, thus, the revenue per available seat kilometre – cost per available seat kilometre (RASK-CASK) spread of the airlines.”

It further expects the momentum in air passenger traffic to continue in FY25, as it is anticipated that there could be further expansion in yields from the current levels may be limited.

The ratings agency also pointed out that while ATF prices have decreased sequentially, they’re still elevated over pre-covid levels.

ICRA said, “ATF prices were sequentially lower since April 2023, however trajectory reversed from July 2023 and increased by 1.3% on a YoY basis in October 2023. However, from November 2023 onwards, the ATF prices have again declined sequentially. In January 2024, the ATF prices, at 103,593/KL, were lower by 3.6% sequentially and 6.4% on a YoY basis.”

ICRA also pointed out that Indian aviation industry’s net loss is expected to reduce significantly to ₹30-50 billion in FY2024 and FY2025 as airlines continue to witness healthy passenger traffic growth and are maintaining pricing discipline.

“The Indian aviation industry reported a net loss of ₹170-175 billion in FY23 due to elevated ATF prices and also due to depreciation of the Rupee against the US dollar,” the agency said, “However the losses are much lower than net loss of Rs 217 billion in FY2022, driven by the airlines’ improved ability to shore up their yields without impacting the demand.”

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

Power sector outlook 2024: Robust demand, renewables to drive growth

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

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The power sector witnessed a remarkable surge in 2023, with companies in renewables, power equipment, and smart metering experiencing substantial gains. Notable performers included Inox Wind, HBL Power Systems, HPL Electric and Power, and Transformers and Rectifiers India, which saw impressive gains of 200-400%. Even traditional power generators like NLC India, NTPC, SJVN, and Tata Power gained 50-100%.

Industry experts Girishkumar Kadam, Senior Vice President and Group Head at ICRA, Rahul Prithiani, Senior Director at CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics, and Harshvardhan Dole, Senior VP- Institutional Equities at IIFL discussed the prospects for the power sector in 2024 and crucial aspects such as demand trends, potential challenges, and recommended investment areas.

Prithiani highlighted the exceptional growth the power sector experienced in the last six months of 2023, anticipating a robust demand trajectory to persist into 2024. He emphasised the significant capital expenditure (capex) in the renewable energy space, predicting it to be a key driver of power generation. The sector’s access to capital and global investor interest further solidifies it as a strong investment opportunity.

Also Read | Power sector in 2023: Navigating demand spike and the rise of renewables

Kadam provided insights into the outlook for different segments within the power sector. He expressed a stable outlook for the thermal sector and renewable generation and transmission, but a negative outlook on the distribution segment. According to his estimates, there is a need for an additional 30-35 gigawatts of thermal capacity by 2030.

Dole shared an optimistic view on India’s power demand, stating that the country is at a tipping point for accelerated growth. From a stock perspective, he identified NTPC and Torrent Power as top picks, with L&T continuing to remain favourable. Dole also highlighted CESC as offering an asymmetric payoff, making it an aggressive recommendation.

Also Read | India, Russia ink pacts on construction of future power generating units of Kudankulam nuclear plant

For the entire discussion, watch the accompanying video

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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

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Indian airlines likely to prune losses to ₹3,000-5,000 crore this fiscal: ICRA

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

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The Indian airline industry is expecting to prune its net losses to ₹3,000-5,000 crore in this fiscal from an estimated ₹17,000-17,500 crore in FY2023 on the back of improved yields and a stable cost environment, credit rating agency ICRA said on Tuesday.

At the same time, ICRA also estimated that domestic air passenger traffic will expand by 8-13% each in FY2024 and FY2025. The rating agency has also maintained its stable outlook on the industry given healthy passenger traffic growth, improved yields, and a stable cost environment.

Building on the fast-paced recovery in FY2023, ICRA at a webinar on Tuesday said it is expecting the domestic air passenger traffic to grow by 8-13% in the ongoing financial year, thereby reaching 150-155 million and surpassing the pre-Covid levels of 141.2 million seen in FY2020.

The Industry’s net loss (is expected) to shrink to ₹30-50 billion in FY2024 from an estimated ₹170-175 billion in FY2023, aided by improved yields and a stable cost environment, ICRA said.

Also Read: Check which airline topped on-time performance in November 2023: Indigo is not No 1

“The air passenger traffic momentum witnessed in the current fiscal is expected to continue in FY2025, though the further expansion in yields from the current levels may be limited. Thus, the industry is estimated to report a similar net loss of ₹30-50 billion in FY2025 as well,” said Suprio Banerjee, vice president and sector head of corporate ratings, ICRA Ltd.

The momentum in air passenger traffic growth is expected to continue in FY2025 as well with a similar estimated year-on-year growth, aided by rising demand for air travel and improving airport infrastructure, ICRA said.

During the first eight months of this fiscal, domestic air passenger traffic stood at 100.7 million, witnessing a 17% year-on-year growth, and 5% higher than the pre-Covid levels (8M FY2020) of 95.7 million.

Further, the international passenger traffic for Indian carriers, at 23.9 million in FY2023, surpassed the pre-Covid levels, although it trailed the peak levels of 25.9 million in FY2019, ICRA said, adding the same is expected to cross this level in the current fiscal, with an estimated 25-27 million passengers.

Moreover, the airlines witnessed better pricing power, as reflected in improved yields and in the spread between revenue per available seat kilometre and cost per available seat kilometre (RASK-CASK) for the airlines, it said.

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While capacity addition for the industry will continue with the total pending aircraft deliveries of around 1,500, supply chain issues at the aircraft OEMs also mean that the addition could be gradual, ICRA said.

Also, a large part of these is towards a replacement of old aircraft with new fuel-efficient ones, and with the expected continued growth in passenger traffic, ICRA expects the demand-supply balance to be maintained in the medium term.

Furthermore, a sizeable part of the fleet addition by airlines will also be meant for expanding international operations, it said and added that in FY2023, the share of Indian carriers in international traffic (to and from India) stood at around 42%. This offers adequate growth potential for Indian carriers to gain traction in international traffic over the medium term, the rating agency noted.

However, despite a healthy recovery in passenger traffic and improvement in yields, the movement of the latter will remain monitorable amidst elevated ATF prices and depreciation of the Indian Rupee vis-a-vis the US Dollar compared to pre-Covid levels, both of which have a major bearing on the airlines’ cost structure, the rating agency noted.

The average ATF (aviation turbine fuel) prices stood at Rs 103,189/KL in 9M FY2024, which were 59% higher compared to an average of Rs 64,715/KL during FY2020, albeit a decline of 17% compared to Rs 121,013 /KL in FY2023, it observed.

Also Read: CNBC-TV18 Edge: Indigo beats United Airlines to become the sixth largest airline by market cap

Fuel accounts for 30-40% of the airlines’ expenses, while around 35-50% of the airlines’ operating expenses ‘including aircraft lease payments, fuel expenses, and a significant portion of aircraft and engine maintenance expenses ‘ are denominated in US dollar terms.

“More recently, the Indian aviation industry has been facing significant supply chain issues, resulting in around 20-22% of the total fleet being on the ground currently.

“The recent issue related to powder-coating related concerns in engines manufactured by Pratt & Whitney (P&W) is expected to lead to additional aircraft to be grounded by Q4 FY2024 of this fiscal ‘amounting to approximately 22-24% of the industry capacity,” said Banerjee.

This will result in high operating expenses towards the cost of grounding, an increase in lease rentals due to additional aircraft being taken on lease to offset the grounded capacity, along with increasing lease rates and lower fuel efficiency, which adversely impact the airline’s cost structure, and thus overall cash flow generation,” he added.

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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

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Indian airlines may see losses shrink by a fourth this year: Estimate

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

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Recovery in passenger traffic and higher airfares may help airlines like Indigo, SpiceJet, Vistara, Air India and Akasa shrink their losses by a fourth this year, according to one estimate.

Ratings agency ICRA expects a net loss of ₹3,000 crore to ₹5,000 crore in the financial year ending March 2024. This would be comparable to a net loss of over ₹17,000 crore a year earlier, and ₹21,700 crore at the end of March 2022.

Airlines were able to shore up yields without losing demand, according to the report that estimated a 9% jump in passenger traffic in November 2023, compared to a year earlier.

Despite the growth, the number of flyers in November were 11.6 million. That’s 2% less than four years ago, before the pandemic.

In line with the slow recovery in footfalls, the airlines were also slow with adding to their fleet. New capacity was up 8% in November 2023, but still some distance (4%) away from the pre-pandemic levels.

On the other hand, the slight easing in the cost of jet fuel was offset by the falling value of the rupee against the US dollar. When the rupee loses value, it takes more dollars to pay for the jet fuel.

Right now, in December 2023, the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) averaged at about Rs 1.07 lakh per kilolitre, that’s cheaper by 4.6% compared to a month ago and 10.5% cheaper compared to December 2022.

The industry witnessed improved pricing power and the trend may continue for the remaining three and a half months in the financial year.

The other big challenge that airlines face is the grounding of planes due to engine failures. “While half of the fleet of beleaguered airline Go First has been grounded, the impact on IndiGo has also increased. Earlier, over 40 aircraft of Indigo were grounded, due to the recent powder metal issue in P&W engines. Another 30-35 more aircraft of IndiGo could get grounded,” the report warned.

This estimate from ICRA is in line with that of the consulting firm CAPA, which issued a similar warning in November 2023.

According to CAPA, 161-166 aircraft are currently grounded, and this number could go up to 200 before March 2024 ends.

Also Read:SpiceJet records net loss of ₹449 crore, revenue dips to ₹1,428.8 crore in Sept quarter

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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

Two-wheeler volumes expected to grow by 4-7% this fiscal: Report

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

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Two-wheeler retail sales are expected to increase by just 4-7% in volume terms in the domestic market this fiscal year despite logging strong growth in the festive period, according to a report.

The festive season this year saw robust growth in two-wheeler retail aided by the upcoming wedding season and some recovery in rural demand, which supported sales growth in the entry-level (110 cc) segment, the report by rating firm Icra stated.

The dealer inventory remained at near normal levels, with the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) wary of a build-up in inventory at the dealerships, it added.

Also Read: Indian auto retailers sell over 90,300 vehicles each day in the festive season — SUVs most in demand

“The industry is expected to record a moderate growth in volumes in FY 2024 (4-7%) even as export volumes remain impacted by weak demand,” Icra said.

Elaborating on the passenger vehicles, Icra stated that the segment is expected to record a moderate growth in volumes in FY2024
(6-9%) and reach an all-time high during the period. Commercial vehicle volume growth is expected to be in the range of 2-4% this fiscal as compared with the last financial year, it stated.

“Aided by favourable demand drivers, the industry volumes are expected to reach near the pre-pandemic peak,” Icra said.

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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

Air traffic in India up 11% in October, says ICRA report

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

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Domestic air passenger traffic rose by 11% year-on-year in October to 1.26 crore, ratings agency ICRA said in a note on November 15.

The traffic registered an uptick of 6% compared to pre-COVID levels in 2019 and a jump of 3.2% compared to September 2023. According to ICRA, the airlines’ capacity deployment was higher by 8% YoY but 4% lower in comparison to the pre-COVID levels.

The international passenger traffic of Indian carriers witnessed a growth of 31% at 1.7 crore the period between April and August 2023.

ICRA said its outlook for the Indian aviation industry is stable on the back of the fast-paced recovery in domestic passenger traffic in FY2023 and the seven months of FY2024. The expectations of the trend continue for the remaining five months of the fiscal owing to the upcoming festive season, the ratings agency said.

Also Read: Air India Express increasing domestic flight connections from Mangaluru

“Moreover, the industry witnessed improved pricing power, reflected in the improved yields (over pre-COVID levels) and, thus the revenue per available seat kilometre – cost per available seat kilometre (RASK-CASK) spread of the airlines,” ICRA added.

However, the agency pointed out that sequential increase in ATF prices could be a challenge for the Indian aviation sector. “Despite a healthy recovery in air passenger traffic, the domestic aviation industry continues to face challenges from elevated ATF prices and depreciation of the INR vis-à-vis the USD compared to pre-Covid levels, both of which have a major bearing on the airlines’ cost structure.”

The average ATF prices stood at Rs 121,013/KL in FY2023 and Rs 103,189/KL in 8M FY2024 compared to Rs 65,368/KL in FY2020 (pre-Covid). In November 2023, the ATF prices dropped by 6.0% to Rs 112,683/KL and were also lower by 8.3% YoY basis.

The ratings agency further said that the industry is estimated to have reported a net loss of ₹170-175 billion in FY2023 due to elevated ATF prices and depreciation of the Indian rupee. However, it is much lower than the net loss of ₹217 billion in FY2022.

“The net loss is further expected to reduce significantly to Rs 30-50 billion in FY2024 as airlines continue to witness healthy passenger traffic growth and maintain pricing discipline, following the ongoing consolidation in the industry.” said ICRA in a note.

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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