The ongoing agitation of the pilots at Jet Airways has taken a toll on the company’s shares as well. The stock has been at the receiving end of the investors’ ire which has plummeted more than 10% in the last two sessions.
Jet chairman Naresh Goyal told a TV channel Tuesday night that the pilots have held the airline and the to ransom. He added that he will not hesitate to shut down operations if the employees do not comply with the company’s principles. Market watchers said the crisis came at a time when concerns about the prospects of the aviation industry were clouding investor sentiment. country
“The company is anyway neck deep in debt given the soaring ATF prices, staff expenses and other rising costs. Airline companies have no control on reduction of duties on ATF or on trimming their workforce. Given all these factors, even if Jet were to shut down as the chairman has threatened may be in the operations interest of the company. Probably, this could force the government to tow the line in favor of airline companies in terms of subsidies or lowering ATF prices,” said a senior analyst domestic brokerage firm. with a large
Pranab Mukherjee Hints At India GDP Hiccup
The economy is somewhat shaky on the growth path after a downturn year, according to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He also added that a new challenge was looming over developing economies as India key member world’s elite G20 economies — that of pressures over the climate change issue. becomes a
Mukherjee said the second and third quarters of the current financial year are unlikely to see the economy expanding at the pace it did in April-June period, but he stuck to the government’s original growth forecast of more than 6% for the current fiscal year.
Early signs of a recovery in India’s economy amid a global downturn emerged as gross domestic product (GDP) for April to June 2009 quarter grew 6.1%, up from 5.8% in the previous quarter, but the specter of a drought in nearly half the country, threatened to pull down growth in the subsequent months.