NEWS DIGEST: Most read stories this week

Following are the links to the ten most read stories on the Business Standard website in the last seven days:- 

ICICI Bank seeks to soothe nerves at Monday meeting

It is mission damage control and ICICI Bank is pulling out all the stops. Weighed down by persistent rumours over its health, the bank’s top management will meet senior employees on Monday to reassure them about their future...More

Shobhana Subramanian:The $700 bn man

I am a free market Republican,” Neel Kashkari is believed to have said at an American Enterprise Institute Conference some time back. Well, Kashkari’s job over the next few months can’t really be said to be upholding the spirit of a free market...More 

Kingfisher-Jet Airways invites Air India to alliance

If it happens, the club will have 72 per cent share of Indian skies...More

Kingfisher, Jet in cost-saving alliance

Rival private airlines Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, with a collective market share of over 58 per cent, announced a strategic alliance to help them reduce cost and enhance efficiency...More

Big TV to slash prices by over 40%

Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) is all set to begin a price war in the direct-to-home (DTH) market by offering its connection about 43 per cent lower than any of the existing players. Big TV will offer its DTH service for Rs 1,490, while the lowest-priced connection is currently being offered by Dish TV at Rs 2,190, followed by Tata Sky at Rs 2,400...More

Sacked Jet Air staffers taught Marathi lessons

It was a meeting to show solidarity with the laid-off Jet Airways staffers, but MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s men turned it into a coaching class for Marathi...More

Jet Airways to lay off 800 staffers

Financially strapped Jet Airways has decided to lay off over 800 of its employees on Wednesday...More

Jet to cut 1,100 more jobs, employees protest

In a desperate attempt to reduce manpower costs after it announced a strategic alliance with Kingfisher Airlines on Monday, Jet Airways, India’s largest private sector airline, said it planned to axe another 1,100 employees over the next few days. Most of these employees are under probation and are not confirmed...More

Jet caves in under pressure, to take back sacked staff

Stung by strong opposition from political parties and demonstrations by the sacked employees, Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal made a volte face today by announcing that he would reinstate all the 800 employees who were retrenched on Wednesday...More 

India's pie in the sky

On Wednesday, India will enter the annals of lunar history with its bid to land a mission on the moon...More