With a favourable feasibility report by its side, the Kolkata Port Trust is to develop Sagar Island, the pilgrimage centre about 100 km south of Kolkata city, as a major port.

Sagar Island to become major port but viability still in question

Business Standard

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said incumbent telecom operators Bharti Airtel (earlier known as Bharti Cellular) and Vodafone India (earlier known as Hutchison Max &amp; Sterling Cellular) were given additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, up to 10 MHz, in undue haste in January 2002.
It has said the allocation was done by the then communications minister, Pramod Mahajan, in association with some officers in the DoT (department of telecom) bypassing the opinions of the member

Airtel, Vodafone hastily given extra spectrum: CBI

The Prime Minister&rsquo;s decision last week to ensure time-bound implementation of port projects worth Rs 35,000 crore and a capacity addition of 244 million tonnes in this financial year, has met with a one-word response from industry: Unrealistic. It&rsquo;s not difficult to understand the cynicism.

Port projects in troubled waters

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI)&rsquo;s headhunting exercise for chairman and managing director is set to start afresh. This follows the selection board failing to finalise any candidate among the applicants.

Hunt for SCI chairman to begin afresh

About 12 years ago when the Marriott group started its India stint with the opening of Marriott Goa, it was one of the few international hotels to seize the &lsquo;India opportunity.

Marriott set for debut in mid-market space

The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is going to start the process to select a new chairman and managing director tomorrow, as the current chairman, S Hajara, who is on a one-year extension, is set to retire in December. However, to the surprise of many, no internal candidate has made it to the interview stage at the public enterprise selection board (PESB).

SCI set to begin hunt for new head

Two deals are all it took the Sahara Group to let the global hospitality industry know it meant business. By acquiring two of the most iconic hotel properties in the world &mdash; the Grosvenor House in London and the Plaza in New York &mdash; for $1.3 billion, at a time when no one expected it to, the group looks settled in the high-end hospitality business. The Subrata Roy-led group is now scouting for palace properties in France.

Sahara eyes French palaces, Marriott's UK portfolio

When the founder and CEO of MakeMyTrip.com, Deep Kalra, spoke of his plans to expand the company&rsquo;s offline retail stores, the American board members of the Nasdaq-listed online travel firm found the idea revolutionary.

OTAs go offline

Almost four weeks before his death, Lalit Sheth had approached a leading travel company to sell Raj Travels. It was not the first time he was trying to sell the company, industry sources told Business Standard. Sheth, chairman of Raj Travels, jumped to his death from the Bandra-Worli Sea Link last week, due to accumulated debt.

20% of offline travel companies have shut shop in the past few years

Fresh from a change in ownership, Thomas Cook India is expanding its foreign exchange (forex) business. With an increase in demand for inward remittances, Thomas Cook added 26 forex outlets in Tier-II and III cities in the quarter ended June and plans to set up four more soon. Currently, the company has 128 foreign exchange outlets.

Thomas Cook expanding forex business

If the first quarter results are anything to go by, the hospitality industry may have to face gloomier times ahead. The average hotel room rates for 2012-13 are expected to fall five to 10 per cent and the occupancy is likely to come down five per cent, compared with the previous financial year, industry experts say.

Hotel occupancy, room rates set to hit a new low

After NTPC Ltd, two more companies have agreed to ply their cargo through inland waterways. Tata Chemicals Ltd and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (Iffco) would transport 225,000 tonnes of fertilisers through National Waterway 1, a senior official in Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) said.

Now, Tata Chem, Iffco to move cargo by inland waterways

Travel portal Cleartrip is clearly going against the industry trend of online-offline hybrid strategies.

Cleartrip to stay away from offline strategy

With 74 per cent stake in Modest Infrastructure, Dempo Shipbuilding now has a naval order of seven fuel-supply vessels.

Modest acquisition helps Dempos defence dreams 

While leisure travel currently accounts for the bulk of Cox &amp; Kings&rsquo; business, the company is targeting education travel in the next two to three years, Director Peter Kerkar tells Ruchika Chitravanshi in a telephonic interview.

Educational travel biz is recession-proof: Peter Kerkar

With Travelguru becoming the fourth company to be acquired by Yatra in the past 18 months, the online travel portal is eyeing the top slot in the hotels and holidays segment. Dhruv Shringi, chief executive officer of Yatra.com, tells Ruchika Chitravanshi the company sees many more areas of inorganic growth in the future.

Recession is the best time to build your biz: Dhruv Shringi

Within days of online travel company Yatra Online Pvt Ltd acquiring Travelguru to strengthen its position in the hotels and holiday business, a top official from the Nasdaq-listed market leader MakeMyTrip Ltd said merger and acquisition (M&amp;A) was high on its agenda.

M&A rush in India's online travel space

A chargesheet against Sun TV Chairman Kalanithi Maran, and his brother, former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, over allegations of kickbacks in the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal was not likely anytime soon, a senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told Business Standard.

Malaysia govt delays Maran chargesheet

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will likely file two more chargesheets in the second generation (2G) telecom spectrum allocation case, a senior agency official told Business Standard. Till now, CBI has filed two chargesheets in the case.

CBI likely to file 2 fresh chargesheets

Outbound travel from India during this summer break is estimated to have fallen by 10 per cent in volume, compared to the same time last year. Economic downturn, rupee depreciation and a rise in air fare amid an aviation crisis are among the reasons that have triggered the drop in the number of travellers.

Foreign vacation gets the blues

Air travel to East and West Asia is set to get easier, with carriers SpiceJet and IndiGo expanding their capacity for these destinations, following a green signal to do so.

Ruchika Chitravanshi

Ruchika Chitravanshi

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