News digest: Demonetisation, liquidity crisis, Air India strike, and more

The Airports chosen for operation, management and development through a public-private partnership (PPP) model are Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati

6 airports get Centre's nod for privatisation; AAI to hold minor stake

The government on Thursday decided to privatise six airports. The ones chosen for operation, management and development through a public-private partnership (PPP) model are Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati.

This comes 12 years after Delhi and Mumbai airports were privatised in 2006. The decision was taken at a Union Cabinet meeting. “After the modernisation of airports in Delhi and Mumbai through the PPP model, we saw a great improvement in the quality of the airports. Read more.

Note ban expanded tax base, led to digitisation, says Arun Jaitley

Personal income tax (I-T) collection rose 20.2 per cent and corporation tax 19.5 per cent in the first seven months of the current financial year (2018-19 or FY19), over the corresponding period of the previous year (2017-18 or FY18), said Finance Minister (FM) Arun Jaitley on Thursday. For this, he credited the government decision to demonetise high-value currency notes on November 8, 2016.

In the Budget for FY19, the government targeted 19.88 per cent growth for personal I-T and 10.15 per cent growth for corporation tax. Read more.
 

Green shoots of liquidity for NBFCs, HFCs in commercial paper market

The worst may be over for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) as far as raising funds from the commercial paper (CP) market is concerned. 

After the liquidity squeeze following the default by the IL&FS group in September, there are early signs of a recovery in the CP market with non-bank lenders (NBFCs and HFCs) raising Rs 300 billion in October. Read more.

Hunting for jobs? India Inc FY18 hiring slowest in 3 yrs, more pain ahead

A slower-than-expected economic recovery has hit fresh hiring by corporate India.

The employee count of India Inc was up just 1.9 per cent year-on-year in 2017-18, growing at the slowest pace in at least three years. 

In comparison, the headcount was up 3.5 per cent year-on-year in the previous year and 4.6 per cent in 2015-16. Read more.

Air India ground staff go on flash strike, flights from Mumbai delayed

Air India flights from Mumbai are facing delays, some by as much as six hours, owing to a flash strike called by the carrier’s ground staff.

Ground-handling functions like check-in, loading and unloading of bags, among other things, are handled by the airline's subsidiary Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL), whose staff went on a flash strike from 11 pm on Wednesday, demanding the reinstatement of three employees who were fired from the job.

The flash strike is causing delays, but there have been no cancellations so far. Read more.