A New Plan For Airlines, A New TRAI Battle And Other India news

Airlines in India will never be the same. The government has put in a place a brand new policy for airlines operating in India, with a eye on quadrupling the passenger traffic to 300 million a year by 2022. Of immediate interest to the public are two plans that have been in discussion for a while. Flights shorter than an hour from so far unconnected towns and cities will not cost more than 2,500 rupees and about 160 new towns will get their own airports. For airlines, the controversial 5/20 rule for international routes has been modified. So far, an airlines must be in business for five years and own 20 aircrafts to qualify as an international flyer. Now, the five year rule has been scrapped. And here’s what the aviation minister has to say to airlines:

“India is one of the few economies in the world that is behaving itself. Let us all play together. Let more people also come in. Let all thrive.”

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Udta Punjab:  If you were following the travails of the movie Udta Punjab (Flying Punjab), about drug use in the state, here's an update. The film has finally received censor board’s certification, after one cut (as opposed to the 90 that it wanted earlier). The makers hadn’t even finished celebrating the win, which came after much public fighting, when a copy of the film was leaked online. And the fingers are ironically pointing at the Censor board. Food for thought on freedom of expression as well as information piracy here.

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Mega bank: The Indian cabinet has cleared the decks for the merger of State Bank of India’s five subsidiaries with itself, creating a mega bank which will be among the top 50 biggest banks globally. The advantages of the merger are obvious: better reach, easier spread of technology, both of which will help with PM Narendra Modi’s pet agenda of financial inclusion. The flip side, of course, is whether this merger will create a monster that’s too big to control.

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TRAI battle: Buoyed by their success in fighting the TRAI on call drops, mobile operators are now focussing on another battle with the regulator. They want TRAI to reconsider the ban on differential data, which shot into the limelight last year, thanks to Airtel Zero and Facebook Free Basics. The telcos allege that differential data pricing has been around for years, harming no one. They also allege that a clause that allows for different pricing over intranets also violates licensing agreements.

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Cover Image: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has called a meeting to discuss the surge in tomato prices, thanks to poor supplies and higher cost of transport, which can push inflation numbers up and trigger public outrage.  

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