Local travellers are high rollers at hotels, boosting domestic market

Indians are travelling more and their spending is not limited to only overseas travel. Domestic luxury and branded hotels are registering an increase in the share of revenue coming through domestic leisure travellers.

These travellers are not only staying at top-end hotels but also spending a significant amount of money at the hotel during their stay. Chinmai Sharma, chief revenue officer at Taj Hotels, told Business Standard that the domestic leisure travel business was the fastest growing category in the hospitality chain. The company's leisure segment (domestic and international) is ...Read Full Story

Officer harasses Hindu-Muslim couple seeking passports; gets transferred

The External Affairs Ministry has sought a report on allegations that an inter-faith couple was harassed and humiliated by an officer at a Passport Seva Kendra in Lucknow.

Responding to complaints from Mohammad Anas Siddiqui and Tanvi Seth, who wrote about their ordeal on Twitter and tagged External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday, secretary, consular, passport and visa division, D M Mulay said he had asked for a report from the regional passport office in Lucknow and would take appropriate action.
"Regret for inconvenience. I sought report from @rpolucknow Will take appropriate action," Mulay said on Twitter last night.

Siddiqui and Seth had applied for their passports on June 19 and took an appointment for June 20 at a Passport Office in Lucknow.

They were allegedly humiliated and shamed by passport officer Vikas Mishra before he rejected their application, they said.

With 47 agitations a day, Tamil Nadu protests put investors in a spot

Tamil Nadu Protest - Recently, a delegation from a global consulting firm visited Tamil Nadu and met with industrialists, industry chambers, politicians and journalists. The members were on a mission to understand the investment climate and ascertain whether the state was still a safe place for investors.

The questions over the investment worthiness of Tamil Nadu were puzzling given that the state is still the putative champion in terms of foreign direct investment inflows, ranking fourth in 2017 behind only Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka. However, their cause of worry came from a different quarter: ...Read Full Coverage

Street bets on Torrent Pharma's domestic business

The Torrent Pharma stock has risen 20 per cent since its March lows and is currently trading near its 52-week high. Street sentiment remains strong on its domestic growth, as was seen in the March quarter performance.

With the pharma market growth crossing 10 per cent in May, sentiment for domestic-focused firms such as Torrent has improved further. The company, which had purchased Unichem’s domestic portfolio about a year back, is likely to continue accruing benefits as it turns around this business. Having a strong-track record in turning around acquisitions, the synergy benefits is ...Read Full Story

Tata Beverages eyes market share gains, cost control to improve revenues

A weak March-quarter performance led to a 12 per cent decline for the Tata Global Beverages stock. But prior to the recent fall, the stock had doubled in value on the back of the company’s restructuring exercises, which included divesting of loss-making units in its international operations, such as those in Russia and China.

The focus is to drive growth in businesses in India, which account for half of the firm's consolidated revenues. While it is eyeing double-digit growth in the domestic tea segment, incremental growth is expected from product launches. Tata Global is also ...Read Full Story