Gurugram, Mar 18 (PTI) Air India, which has embarked on a transformation path, expects to complete the upgradation of all legacy wide body aircraft by mid 2027, its chief Campbell Wilson said on Tuesday and mentioned that the aviation market worldwide is likely to remain “supply constrained” for another four to five years.
The Air India CEO and MD also said the repainting and refurbishing of Vistara aircraft is expected to be completed in one-and-a-half years. Full service carrier Vistara was merged with Air India last year.

Asserting that refit of aircraft is the number one priority for the airline, Wilson said refit of the legacy Boeing 777 planes was supposed to start last year but there were seat supply issues. “We are now pulling these aircraft through heavy refresh programme.”

“By early mid 2027, all of the legacy wide body aircraft will be upgraded… still slower than we would have liked,” Wilson said and pointed out that there are supply chain constraints as well as challenges with respect to the number of aircraft that can be taken out of service at any point of time.
Meanwhile, Air India plans to have first class cabin in some of the new aircraft in the coming years, with Wilson saying, “we do see a place for first class… and it is work in progress”.

At present, some of the legacy B777 planes of Air India have first class cabins.
“First class is actually less profitable product than business class… We are obviously positioning ourselves as a Tier 1 airline,” he said while speaking at the Skift India Forum here.

Skift is a travel industry intelligence platform.
Since Tata Group started piloting Air India, the airline has placed orders for 570 new aircraft.
While talking about the supply situation, the airline chief said there are pinch points everywhere such as there are no engines for some narrow body aircraft, there are issues with seat suppliers as well as availability of components and parts of fuselage.

“Reality is that it is going to remain a supply-constrained market, not just for Air India, India, (I am) talking about worldwide… for another 4-5 years,” Wilson said.
Air India expects to refit all of the 27 A320 neo aircraft by the third quarter of this year.
Under the USD 400 million retrofit programme for narrow body and wide body planes, the first retrofitted A320 neo plane is back in operations.
The retrofit schedule will see more legacy aircraft, including 40 wide body B787 and B777 planes, undergoing makeover with the first B787 flying out for retrofit next month, the airline said in a release.

On the sidelines of the event, in response to a PTI query on how the airline plans to address the supply constraint situation, Wilson on Tuesday said, “we are victims of the circumstances as is every other airline”.

“If you are capacity constrained, you have to be little bit ruthless with respect to where you deploy your aircraft to maximise the returns. It means you can’t expand to places that otherwise you would like to expand. It is not a lot that you can do beyond that.

“We can try to lease aircraft from the external market but every other airline is trying to do it. Getting one or two aircraft which has a different configuration from the rest of the fleet adds to the complexity rather than advancing you. It is a very significant challenge for the industry as a whole,” he said.
Loss-making Air India, which was taken over by the Tata Group from the government in January 2022, is undergoing an ambitious five-year transformation plan.

As the Indian market grows, Wilson said that he thinks there will be an increased demand for premium travel and also at the same time, it is a market where many people are travelling for the first time.

“We are seeing a continued improvement in yields and premium travel,” he said.
In response to a query about global economic uncertainties and their impact on the airline, Wilson said it is largely insulated due to a few reasons, including that India is growing fast organically.

“Anything that impacts the global economy is a concern for us. I think we are largely insulated from that for a few reasons. One is that India is growing fast organically and we have a lot of catch-up to do in respect of market share of Indian carriers, Air India in particular.
“… I think our problem is one that of supply rather than demand… Even if there is a global slowdown, we still have a lot of opportunities,” the Air India chief noted.

New Delhi, Mar 18 (PTI) Parliament on Tuesday approved the supplementary demands for grants, which entails Rs 51,463 crore additional spending in the current fiscal and the Manipur Budget for 2025-26 with the Rajya Sabha returning four bills to the Lok Sabha.
Parliament also approved the Rs 1,291 crore demands for excess grants for 2021-22 fiscal and the Rs 1,861 crore supplementary demands for grants for Manipur in 2024-25.

The Lok Sabha had passed the supplementary demands for grants and the Manipur Budget for 2025-26 on March 11.
The Rajya Sabha returned The Appropriation Bill, 2025; The Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, 2025; The Manipur Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill, 2025; and The Manipur Appropriation Bill, 2025, after the reply by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to a discussion on the four bills.

The second batch of supplementary demands for grants entails a gross additional spending sought by the government was over Rs 6.78 lakh crore, of which Rs 6.27 lakh crore would be matched by savings and receipts.

The net additional spending by the government would be Rs 51,462.86 crore in the current fiscal, as per the second batch of supplementary demands for grants.
The demands for grants include a technical supplementary of Rs 5.54 lakh crore, which goes towards repayment of debt.

The Manipur Budget provides for total receipts of Rs 35,368 crore, while total expenditure was estimated at Rs 35,104 crore. The state’s own tax is about Rs 2,634 crore and non-tax is about Rs 400 crore.

It is a Vote on Account asking for 6 months and at this stage for an amount of Rs 17,947 crore. The Vote on Account provides for a Rs 500 crore corpus for the creation of a contingency fund for Manipur, which is currently under the President’s Rule. Consequent to the Proclamation issued under Article 356 of the Constitution on February 13, 2025, the powers of the Legislature of the State of Manipur are exercisable by or under the authority of Parliament.

Mumbai, Mar 17 (PTI) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Monday asked banks to avoid calling customers repeatedly for “know your customer” (KYC) documents.

Speaking at the annual conference of RBI Ombudsmen here, Malhotra made it clear that submitting the documents to an entity overseen by any financial regulator makes it possible for others to access the same from a common database, and termed the repeat requests as “avoidable inconvenience”.

“We need to ensure that once a customer has submitted documents to a financial institution, we do not insist on obtaining the same documents again,” the RBI governor said.

He rued that most banks and NBFCs have not enabled their branches or offices to access information from the central database due to which customers have to face the avoidable inconvenience.

“This may be facilitated early. This will be in the interest of all,” Malhotra added.

The comments from the RBI governor come at a time when banking customers repeatedly complain of inconvenience due to KYC re-submission requests, especially on social media platforms.

Meanwhile, Malhotra also warned banks against misclassifying customer complaints to suppress its numbers, saying doing so amounts to a “gross regulatory violation”.

He said in FY24, banks received 1 crore customer complaints and the number will grow higher if one were to include complaints against other regulated entities.

The governor said 57 per cent of these required mediation or intervention by RBI ombudsmen.

“All of you will agree that this is a highly unsatisfactory situation and needs our urgent attention,” he said.

Banks need to improve consumer services, not only because it is their duty to do so, but because it is in their “selfish interest”, Malhotra said, reminding the audience of competition in the industry.

He advised leadership at banks, starting with the managing directors down to the branch managers, have to keep time off every week for complaint redressal.

This is a “must” for all the banks, Malhotra said, adding that CEOs across the world find time in their schedules for this.

“Left unresolved, every such issues can corrode consumer confidence and tarnish the entire ecosystem,” he said, underlining that complaints should not be seen as a “nuisance”.

It is necessary to avoid repeat complaints, as they expose systemic flaws, he said.

The career bureaucrat-turned-regulator also strongly advocated the usage of artificial intelligence for complaint redressal but asked them to consider essential aspects like privacy.

Other areas where the banks need to focus on from a customer service perspective are misselling, digital frauds, and aggressive recoveries practices, he said.

Chandigarh, Mar 17 (PTI) An Urban Drainage Fund with Rs 100 crore corpus will be set up to improve drainage infrastructure in all cities of Haryana, said Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini while presenting his government’s Budget for the 2025-26 fiscal on Monday.

This dedicated fund will launch projects to ensure sustainable flood management and protect cities from disasters. He also proposed to establish Common Effluent Treatment Plants in Panipat, Faridabad, Gurugram, and Yamunanagar.

In his budget speech, the chief minister announced Rs 5,666.28 crore allocation for the Urban Local Bodies, a 38.5 per cent increase from Rs 4,091.95 crore allocated this fiscal.

Saini, who also holds the Finance portfolio, said that to empower local governments, the municipal corporations, councils and municipal Committees will be granted the authority to determine taxes and fees.

These local bodies will have the flexibility to set taxes such as property tax, development tax and charges like garbage charges, advertisement charges, and water and sewer fees within the range of the minimum and maximum rates prescribed by the state government, he said.

According to the policy of the Urban Local Bodies Department, priority will be given to cooperatives formed by women and members of the Scheduled Castes in tenders for sanitation works, the chief minister told the Assembly.

To provide more opportunities to women, Saini proposed to allot one-third of the tenders for canteens in government institutions, panchayats, urban local bodies, educational institutions, and other government buildings to women self-help groups on a priority basis.

“The old areas of all big cities which are haphazardly settled will be redeveloped,” he said.

For this, the state government will upgrade the road infrastructure to meet international standards, focusing on the needs of all and with a particular emphasis on making roads pedestrian-friendly, Saini said, adding that a 1,000-km Right of Way will be developed in the first phase.

The chief minister said his government is committed to providing better sanitation, street cleaning, sewerage maintenance, road repairs, and gardening services in a faster and more efficient manner by equipping municipal committees with the necessary machinery and equipment.

On the lines of the multi-level parking facilities built in Rohtak and Gurugram, similar structures will be constructed in all major cities of the state to address parking issues and improve traffic management, he said.

The chief minister informed the house that the state government would develop ultra-modern parks for persons with special abilities.

Saini announced the formation of an Industry Labour Friendly Council, which will be chaired by him to provide further momentum to industrial development.

Out of 101 lakh metric tonnes of garbage from 75 old sites, approximately 69 lakh metric tonnes has been disposed of scientifically and 109 acres of land has been reclaimed over the last 10 years, the chief minister said.

This land is now being used to build green areas, parks, and community infrastructure, he said, adding the government has set a target of 100 per cent cleaning of all old garbage sites by the 2025-26 fiscal.

During his over two-and-a-half hours long speech, Saini also said the Haryana government will sign an agreement with the World Bank for technical and financial assistance under which an investment of Rs 3,647 crore will be made over the next six years to combat air pollution.

He proposed to develop a new policy for effective e-waste management.

Under Haryana’s Enterprise and Employment Policy, industrial units that adopt zero-waste disposal processes and excel in promoting the circular economy will receive special recognition and support, Saini said.

The Haryana government will focus on raising awareness and developing skills in this area, he said.

To turn this concept into reality, the government will collaborate with private companies as well as national and international organizations to adopt and implement the best global practices, the chief minister said.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has placed significant emphasis on the concept of the circular economy.

Saini said that every effort will be made to begin the construction of an international-level Aravalli Jungle Safari on 10,000 acres of land in Gurugram and Nuh districts as soon as possible. For this, adequate funds will be allocated in the financial year 2025-26, he said.

He also said a Forest Research Institute will be built in Yamunanagar.

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) Banks have written off non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans worth about Rs 16.35 lakh crore in last 10 financial years, Parliament was informed on Monday.

Highest amount of Rs 2,36,265 crore was written off during financial year 2018-19 while NPAs worth Rs 58,786 crore were written off in 2014-15, the lowest in the last 10 years.

During 2023-24, banks wrote off bad loans of Rs 1,70,270 crore, lower than Rs 2,16,324 crore done in the previous financial year.

Banks write off non-performing assets (NPAs), including those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and policy approved by banks’ boards, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a reply in the Lok Sabha.

Such write-offs do not result in waiver of liabilities of borrowers and therefore, it does not benefit the borrower, she said.

Banks continue pursuing their recovery actions initiated against borrowers under the various recovery mechanism available to them, such as filing of a suit in civil courts or in Debts Recovery Tribunals, action under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, filing of cases in the National Company Law Tribunal under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, etc, she said.

As per RBI data, as on December 31, 2024, scheduled commercial banks had 29 unique borrower companies, which have been classified as NPAs and each of them have outstanding of Rs 1,000 crore and above, she said, adding aggregate outstanding in these accounts were Rs 61,027 crore.

With regard to recovery of overdue amount from borrowers, banks make calls and issue emails/letters to borrowers regarding payment of the overdue amounts, and depending on the default amount, banks may also approach the National Company Law Tribunal for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process in case of corporate borrowers.

Further, if a loan account is classified as NPA, banks initiate recovery actions, as per their Board-approved policies, which include filing of a suit in civil courts or in debts recovery tribunals, and, action under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, she added.

Replying to another question, Sitharaman said it has been decided by the government to constitute the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC).

The financial implication of the recommendations of the 8th Central Pay Commission will be known, once the recommendations are made by the 8th Central Pay Commission and accepted by the government, she said.

Shimla, Mar 17 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday presented the annual Budget for the year 2025-26 and said the state government will focus on promoting religious and eco tourism besides exploring lesser-known tourist destinations.
While presenting his third annual Budget for FY26, Sukhu said the year 2025-26 is full of financial challenges as revenue deficit grant has been reduced and GST compensation has been stopped.

Focus is on promoting religious tourism and exploring lesser-known tourist destinations, he said and added that tea estates would be developed as eco-tourism destinations, he said.

Informing that the debt liability of the state has risen to Rs 1,04,729 crore out of which Rs 29,046 lakh have been taken by the present government, he said 70 per cent of the loan taken in the past two years was spent on repayment of loan taken by the previous government and its interest component. Only Rs 8,093 was spent on development activities.

He announced a hike of Rs 6 in the minimum support price of cow milk from Rs 45 to Rs 51 per litre and Buffalo milk from Rs 55 to Rs 61 per litre.
Sukhu said that a target has been set to bring one lakh farmers under Natural farming in 2025-26. So far about 1.58 lakh farmers have taken to natural farming.
Farmers growing kachi haldi (raw turmeric) naturally will get Minimum support price of Rs 90 per kg, he said, adding that the state government plans to set up a Spice Park in Hamirpur.

Daily wages of workers engaged in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act increased by Rs 20 from Rs 300 to Rs 320 per day, the CM said.
In order to combat drug abuse in Himachal Pradesh, the CM announced the constitution of a Special Task Force (STF).

He said that about 500 electric buses will be purchased in 2025-26 and the Shimla Ropeway project will be started in the next fiscal year.
He also announced several schemes for agriculturists, women, disabled and children and said that separate directorates for school and colleges would be constituted.