RAI Financial News

Air India Express, which is set to complete the merger of AIX Connect with itself next month, will phase out business class seats in its aircraft in 2025, according to a senior airline official. Currently, the carrier, part of Tata Group, has a fleet of 85 aircraft — 25 A320 family planes and 60 Boeing 737s. By year-end, the total number is expected to be around 100. The airline has 34 white tail Boeing 737-8 aircraft and out of them, 29 have business class seats of varying numbers. Their count will rise to 50 by the end of this year. Generally, white tail planes are those that were originally manufactured for a particular airline and later taken by another airline.

Volkswagen gave IG Metall notice on Tuesday it was scrapping a range of labour agreements including a guarantee of jobs until 2029 at six German plants, the union said. Europe's top carmaker is cancelling the decades-old employment guarantees as part of cost-cutting drive that has triggered a showdown with workers as Volkswagen struggles to compete against cheaper Asian rivals. «These cancellations arrived seconds ago,» IG Metall said in an emailed statement.

National Institutional Ranking Framework, an official said on Tuesday. Under the 'Prime Minister Professorship' initiative, the government will provide substantial funding, postdoctoral support, and necessary resources to build research groups in these universities, Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Union government said. He said the decision was taken during the inaugural Governing Board meeting of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sood said the mentorship will be given by scientists and professors from national laboratories and top institutions like the IITs.

Competition Comission of India on Tuesday announced that it had approved the merger of Tata Motor Finance with Tata Capital. The merger, announced in June, will see Tata Capital issue its equity shares to the shareholders of Tata Motor Finance resulting in Tata Motors effectively holding a 4.7% stake in the merged entity. «CCI approves the proposed merger of Tata Motors Finance Limited with and into Tata Capital Limited,» the industry body posted on X. In a filing to the exchanges on June 4, Tata Motors said that the Board of Directors of Tata Motors, Tata Capital and Tata Motors Finance have approved a merger of Tata Motor Finance with Tata Capital through an NCLT scheme of arrangement.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India is looking to enter the electric vehicle segment this fiscal and eyes one-third of its overall sales to accrue from the segment by 2030. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of 64th SIAM annual session here, HMSI Director (Sales and Marketing) Yogesh Mathur said the company will be entering the EV segment this fiscal. He noted that the contribution of electric two-wheelers in overall two-wheeler sales was continuing to grow. «And what we understand is that by 2030 there will be a major shift towards EVs and we have announced that by 2030 in our lineup also..one-third at least will be coming only from EV models,» Mathur said.

DoT) has simplified the approval process for issuance of experimental and demonstration licenses with introduction of fixed timelines. Further, companies will be able to get approvals for license-exempt wireless devices on a self-certification basis. The changes are part of DoT’s efforts to enhance ease of doing business in the telecom sector with an aim to reduce delays and simplify regulatory requirements. The changes have been incorporated based on the recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). As per the latest rules, for experimental licenses (radiating category), the license will be deemed issued after 30 days of application if no decision is conveyed for cases where no inter-ministerial consultation is needed. In cases requiring inter-ministerial consultation, the DoT will seek comments within seven days of receiving a complete application. If no comments are received, a provisional license will be granted after 60 days, which will be converted to a regular license after 90 days, provided there are no adverse comments.

OPEC on Tuesday cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2024 reflecting data received so far this year and also trimmed its expectation for next year, marking the producer group's second consecutive downward revision. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in a monthly report said world oil demand will rise by 2.03 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, down from growth of 2.11 million bpd it expected last month. There is a wider than usual split between forecasters on the strength of oil demand growth in 2024, partly due to differences over China and more broadly over the pace of the world's transition to cleaner fuels. The reduction still leaves OPEC at the top end of industry estimates.

SIP contribution crossed Rs 23,000 crore mark for the second consecutive month in August and stood at Rs 23,547 crore against Rs 23,332 crore in July.

iPhone 16 series at the Glowtime Event 2024, held at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. However, the launch quickly became the subject of online humor, as social media users noted the minimal changes in design compared to previous models.

Delhi government has announced a complete ban on all types of firecrackers until January 1, 2024, in an effort to curb air pollution. This ban includes the production, sale, and use of all firecrackers, including green ones, in the capital. The announcement came from Gopal Rai, the state environment minister, who highlighted that air pollution spikes in Delhi during winter and fireworks add to the problem.

Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday released second list of candidates for upcoming Haryana polls set for October 5.

Huawei Technologies unveils a three-way foldable phone on Tuesday, as it seeks to widen its lead over Apple in the world's biggest smartphone market with a new form factor that has gained popularity in the China market.

Apple has introduced the iPhone 16 Pro models at a lower price in India compared to the previous iPhone 15 Pro models. This marks the first time new iPhone models are priced lower than their predecessors at launch.

Moscow.

Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE), a self-regulatory organisation (SRO), will seek to include smaller companies to broaden both its representation and effectiveness, CEO Sugandh Saxena told ET.

Congress on Monday announced its third list of candidates for the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai on Monday said the ongoing construction work connected to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya will generate about Rs 400 crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST). However, the actual tax collection figure will be known only after the completion of the construction work, Rai said at a public felicitation function here.

BJP on Monday strongly reacted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statement regarding the BJP and RSS in the US and said the leader of the Opposition was trying to harm the country's image abroad.

Rings of Power Season 2 continues to release episodes weekly. Episode 5 is set to arrive soon, with a full schedule already confirmed. Here's what you need to know.