Air India facing cash deficit of Rs 250 crore every month

Air India is unable to purchase all the spares it needs, resulting in idling aircraft, due to a monthly cash deficit of Rs 200-250 crore that affects availability of funds for maintenance, the civil aviation ministry has candidly admitted.

The ministry has told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that a restricted cash flow was responsible for inoperational aircraft despite a turnaround plan (TAP) being in force since 2011 while fleet expansion had been hit by viability issues and an ongoing CBI probe into previous acquisitions.

“There is a cash deficit of Rs 200 crore to Rs 250 crore every month which affects availability of funds for procurement of spares,” the ministry told the PAC even as it said that “every attempt” was being made to devote maximum financial resources to availability of spares to improve utilisation of aircraft.

It needed $300 million accessed through external commercial borrowings to liquidate outstanding dues of foreign suppliers in 2015 to improve the situation as maintenance expenditure soaked up Rs 2,500 crore or 12% of the debt-laden airline’s operating expenditure.

An examination of AI’s functioning by the PAC is significant in the light of the government’s decision to disinvest 76% stake in the carrier.

A parliamentary committee on transport, tourism and culture headed by Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien had opposed the plan but the draft report was “rejected” by NDA MPs on the panel.

The ministry told the PAC that aircraft engines earlier sent abroad for overhaul and repair were being maintained domestically. “AI is also in constant dialogue with its suppliers to remove the credit hold in order to maintain a smooth supply of spares for sustained and uninterrupted operations,” it said.

The ministry also stated that aircraft acquired on lease were grounded for around two months at the time of redelivery as a number of conditions had to be satisfied.

With a total debt totalling Rs 48,876 crore (government-guaranteed Rs 25,388 crore and non-GOI guaranteed Rs 23,488 crore) AI’s cash situation remains perilous despite improvements in operating profits.

AI’s debt remains high as akey assumption or objective of the TAP — accumulation of Rs 5,000 crore by way of monetisation of properties — has not happened.


As against Rs 500 crore being monetised every year, AI has managed only Rs 725 crore till date and reason is “defective title deeds” and a bar by the ministry of urban development on sale of property given the airline on “perpetual lease”.

Though AI’s turnover has been increasing, and the TAP and financial reconstruction plan has helped improve on time performance, load factor, aircraft utilisation, hiving off non-core assets and gaining equity support, cash losses remain high despite a declining trend.

Aarti Solanki Eliminated from Big boss Marathi

The debut season of Bigg Boss Marathi had a remarkable first week. The show hosted by Mahesh Manjrekar witnessed its first elimination in its 'Weekend Cha Dav' special episode on Sunday, 22nd April.

Out of the four contestants, who were in danger zone, comedienne Aarti Solanki became the first contestant to get eliminated from Bigg Boss Marathi.


Aarti received the least number of votes as a result she had to leave the house.


After eliminations, Aarti shared her views about the show and all the contestants. She said, "I made some really good friends like Rutuja Dharmadhikar, Usha Nadkarni and Sai Lokur in the Bigg Boss Marathi house. But inspite of having good relations, some old friends did not support me, so I am really upset. Most of them just played the mind game."
She added, "I completed my task successfully, I helped in kitchen and entertained people, still I have to leave the house. This has hurt me a lot."



After Aarti's elimination, she was given a special right where she could save one contestant from the coming week's elimination. Aarti saved veteran actress Usha Nadkarni.



Aarti's elimination came as a shock for most of the contestants which left them teary-eyed. But some of the contestants still believe that Aarti will make a come back in the show as a wild card entry. 

After twin boys, Krushna Abhishek and wife Kashmera Shah to adopt a baby girl

Actor Krushna Abhishek and Kashmera Shah turned parents to twin boys via surrogacy last year. Ever since then, the proud parents have been beaming with joy and enjoying parenthood to the fullest.

Looks like the happy four are all set to add a new member to the family. Krushna and Kashmera are planning to adopt a baby girl.

"We have always wanted a girl," said Kashmera. "Both Krushna and I were really keen on adding a girl member to our family. When our little sons were born, we couldn't control our excitement and I was completely happy taking care of my three boys, my twins and Krushna, " laughs Kashmera.
After twin boys, Krushna Abhishek and wife Kashmera Shah to adopt a baby girl
Actor Krushna Abhishek and Kashmera Shah turned parents to twin boys via surrogacy last year. Ever since then, the proud parents have been beaming with joy and enjoying parenthood to the fullest.

Looks like the happy four are all set to add a new member to the family. Krushna and Kashmera are planning to adopt a baby girl.

"We have always wanted a girl," said Kashmera. "Both Krushna and I were really keen on adding a girl member to our family. When our little sons were born, we couldn't control our excitement and I was completely happy taking care of my three boys, my twins and Krushna, " laughs Kashmera.


Krushna Abhishek and Kashmira Shah welcome twins via surrogacy


"But honestly, you know having a little girl is always a bliss. We always wanted a girl and a boy. So, now with two little boys, we are keen on a baby girl, too. You know it's all together a different feeling while dealing with a baby girl of your own. Though that's definitely on the cards but not so soon, as currently all my time, energy and focus is divided amongst my little boys."

She further said, "Sometime soon, w e shall definitely bring a little girl to our family and you never know, I might just get pregnant. God's ways are always unpredictable. Actually not many know that we were going ahead with adoption, if surrogacy wouldn't have worked out for us. But thankfully, it did and I am the happiest mother today. My boys are the best thing that have happened to me," says the proud mother.

How to turn off read receipts in Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Apple iMessage

send messages each day in the form of texts, images, videos and audio notes. We communicate with others and want them to read out the messages like we do for theirs. But at times, things can be annoying if the read receipts in certain apps are turned on. This means that as soon as you read the sender’s message, he/she comes to know about it and may annoy you to give a feedback or a reply. To prevent those situations, apps have given users the ability to turn the feature off. So here is how you can do it on nearly all the major social networking websites/apps.


Facebook Messenger
This is slightly tricky. The app doesn’t really have a proper method to turn off ‘read receipt’ feature but a nifty trick to read messages without letting the sender know. All you need to do is to switch on the ‘Airplane mode’ on your handset and then open the app to read the text. Once read, close the app by swiping it out from the multi-window section so the apps are turned off completely. Now you can switch off the Airplane mode and the sender won’t get to know as the app won’t sync back till you open it again.

WhatsApp
This one’s pretty easy. You can simply open the app, head to the Settings page, go to accounts, privacy, and tap on Turn of Receipts. That’s it. This will however, will not let you see if the other person has read your message or not.
Apple iMessage
For Apple iMessage users, one can head to the main Settings app and tap on Messages and turn off the read receipts option. You cannot turn on/off this feature for individual Messages chats but for all at once.



Instagram
If you want to turn off the read receipts on Instagram, it is not actually possible. However, like Facebook Messenger you can trick others by switching on the Airplane Mode and looking at the messages, closing it completely from the multi-window section and turning off the Airplane Mode.



Twitter
On Twitter, this feature can be turned off for Direct Messages. You need to open the app, tap on your profile picture to open the account settings, under settings tap on Privacy followed by Direct Messages and Turn off Read Receipts. And voila!

TCS becomes first Indian company to breach $100 billion market capitalisation

Highlights

    TCS created history on Monday by becoming the first Indian company to reach the $100 billion market capitalisation (m-cap) mark
    At 10.30 am, the market value of the company stood at Rs 6,79,332.81 crore ( $102.6 billion)
NEW DELHI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country's largest IT outsourcing company created history on Monday by becoming the first Indian company to reach the $100 billion market capitalisation (m-cap) mark. The shares of the IT behemoth were trading 4 per cent above previous closing mark at Rs 3,545 on the BSE at 10.30 am, thus hitting an all-time high.

By definition, market capitalisation is the value of a company that is traded on the stock market, calculated by multiplying the total number of shares by the present share price.
At 10.30 am, the market value of the company stood at Rs 6,79,332.81 crore ( $102.6 billion).
Last week, when the markets closed on Friday, the company was at the verge of the milestone as the m-cap stood at slightly above $99 billion. TCS stock had surged more than 6 per cent on Friday.


The rise in the TCS scrip's fortune came after the it posted a rise of 4.5 per cent in its Q4 net profit. In the January-March quarter, the company reported a net profit of Rs 6,925 crore, up 4.57 per cent against Rs 6,622 crore posted in the same quarter last year. On top of that, the company announced a 1:1 bonus for its shareholders. This is the third bonus share offering by the company since its listing in 2004. TCS had allotted 1:1 bonus shares in 2006 and 2009.