Media-savvy Patel: Hitting hard on low-cost airlines

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has imposed a temporary moratorium on new airline licenses. This means all pending or fresh licence applications will be put on hold. Is this the first step towards clamping down on low cost airlines and their "below-cost, predatory pricing tactics?" That is a very real fear that is plaguing these carriers following a meeting-called ostensibly to discuss ways of stemming the flood of red ink on airlines' books-with Patel at which the full-service carriers-Jet, Kingfisher and Air Sahara-proposed an end to "cut-throat pricing" by their low-cost rivals. This was opposed by Air Deccan and SpiceJet for obvious reasons. Patel, who stopped short of endorsing the proposal, however, sounded a word of caution and emphasised the necessity of airlines maintaining their financial soundness. His rationale: he did not want a repeat of the situation in the early 1990s when several private carriers folded up.

In the two years that he has been Civil Aviation Minister, Patel, who hails from a family of wealthy bidi barons, has built a reputation of a minister who can get things done. His crowning glory is undoubtedly the way he pushed through the privatisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports in the face of trenchant criticism from the Left and some other UPA allies. His other achievements: allowing private airlines to fly abroad; and clearing Indian Airlines' (now Indian) fleet acquisition programme. Patel, one of the more telegenic, media-savvy faces in this government, has worked hard to achieve these and has earned the goodwill of the Indian air traveller. The last things he needs is to have unsubstantiated charges flying around that he is out to kill the low-cost airlines.

-Shaleen Agrawal

NUMBERS OF NOTE

Rs 10,007 crore: The advertisement expenditure (ad-spend) of 959 listed companies in 2005 against Rs 8,470 crore in 2004-05

158,427: The number of individuals holding 323,699 duplicate PAN cards in Mumbai. The total number of PAN cardholders in the city is 4.15 million

Rs 1.5 lakh: The annual per capita expenditure on state government employees in Bihar; the national average is Rs 82,000

8,614: The number of Starbucks stores in the US

32 million: The number of potential women customers for gold in India, according to a World Gold Council report. Between 2002 and 2005, Indian demand rose to 750 tonnes from 571 tonnes despite higher gold prices

340,000: The number of laptop batteries, made by Sony Corp, being recalled by Toshiba worldwide

€48.5 billion (Rs 2,81,300 crore): The amount in subsidies received by Europe's farmers from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2005, a jump of more than 11 per cent over the 2004 figure

$20.1 million (Rs 92.46 crore): The amount mobilised from the sale of classical and modern and contemporary Indian art at a Christie's auction on September 20. Of this, modern and contemporary Indian art totalled $17.81 million

$25,000 (Rs 11.5 lakh): The amount Sir John Bond, Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings PLC, will be paid per day for advising Bill Ford Jr, the embattled Chairman of Ford Motors Company. He is expected to work as a consultant only for about one-and-a-half days a month for the carmaker

35 million: The number of blogs on the net

$38.4 billion (Rs 1,76,640 crore): The amount that people will spend on their pets this year (in the US), according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, an increase of $2.1 billion (Rs 9,660 crore), or 5.8 per cent, over 2005

NOTED

ACQUIRED: By Mahindra & Mahindra (CEO, Anand Mahindra, left), a 67.9 per cent take in Jeco Holding AG, a German forgings company, at an enterprise value of around Rs 830 crore. This is the largest outbound acquisition by any Indian auto components firm.

LAUNCHED: By Adlabs Films, its first FM radio station-BIG 92.7 FM-in New Delhi. Adlabs will invest Rs 400 crore to set up its network spanning 45 cities across the country by April 2007. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-controlled radio venture will be heard across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, besides Bangalore and Hyderabad over the next fortnight.

RECORDED: By India, a gain of two places-at #43-on the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index. The 2006-07 rankings place India well ahead of rival emerging economies like China (54), Russia (62) and Brazil (66). Switzerland, Finland and Sweden are the world's most competitive economies.

ANNOUNCED: By ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector bank, plans to hire 40,000 people a year for the next three to five years. ICICI Bank currently employs about 150,000.

APPROVED: By the Inter-ministerial Board of Approval, Posco India's Rs 53,000-crore proposal for a multi-product special economic zone in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa. The board approved a total of 18 SEZ proposals, while 13 were given in-principle clearance.

ACCEPTED: By the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, the government's proposal to implement 54 per cent quotas for Other Backward Castes over the next three years instead of four years as it had earlier proposed. It also sought an additional Rs 83 crore from the government to create the requisite infrastructure for this purpose.

PROPOSED: An Independent Self-Regulatory Organisation by Nasscom (President Kiran Karnik, left), to enforce stricter regulations for data protection in the BPO sector. It is also considering imposing sanctions for violations.

MARTELL HITS INDIA

French firm Martell has recently launched its range of cognacs in India. Martell's Celler Master (head of winery staff) Bruno Lemoine is confident that "Indian youngsters will accept the drink once they are introduced to it." Lemoine emphasises the drink's versatility-a selling point with young drinkers. "Cognac is a drink which people can have with anything," he says, "be it ginger ale, water or cola." Its target group: the young urban customer in the 18-35 age group. The high-end Martell XO costs Rs 8,200 per bottle, though beginners could try the relatively cheaper variants priced at Rs 1,800 and Rs 2,800.

-Amit Mukherjee

THE CUP OF FEAR

The bogey of extortion is back at the tea gardens in Assam. On September 23, militants belonging to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) gunned down Haridhan Das, the Manager of Hullunghabi Tea Estate, about 540 kilometres east of Guwahati for not paying extortion money. It was the second instance of violence in two days. The previous day, a policeman was killed in eastern Assam following the Centre's decision (on September 20) not to extend the ceasefire, which had been in force from August 13, 2006, with the ULFA.

Understandably, no garden owner is willing to speak on record, but BT learns that the militant outfit had demanded Rs 10 lakh from Hullunghabi Estate. It has also served extortion notices on many of Assam's 800-odd tea gardens spread across the Brahmaputra valley, the Barak valley and southern Assam. The demands: Rs 10 lakh-Rs 1.5 crore.

Garden managers and executives who visit the state are worried, but are trying to outwardly maintain a business as usual attitude. Off the record, they say it is better to come to a "settlement" with the militant outfit. "It's like buying peace at an affordable price," says one of the oldest planters in the region.

-Ritwik Mukherjee