News Accross India, Month of August, 2010

[Pintu]

Police serve notice to Raj Thackeray after multiplex issue - Mumbai - City - The Times of India

Police serve notice to Raj Thackeray after multiplex issue
PTI, Aug 21, 2010, 08.07pm IST

MUMBAI: Days after he asked the multiplex owners to screen Marathi movies at prime time or face the music, Mumbai police has served a notice to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray warning him against giving any provocative or inflammatory speeches.

"A notice under section 149 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was served to Raj Thackeray yesterday warning him against giving any speeches that incite violence," S R Unavane, senior inspector at Shivaji Park Police Station said.

The notice refrains Thackeray from "committing a cognizable offence in future", Unavane added.

The move comes five days after city Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal had hinted an action against Thackeray by saying that not only the vandals who attacked multiplexes but also those provoking them would face the music.

Thackeray had on August 10 warned the multiplex owners who were not screening Marathi movies at prime time.

"Prepare a list of multiplexes that are not showing Marathi films," Raj had instructed his partymen at the third anniversary of MNS Cine Workers Association.

Subsequently, MNS party workers on August 14 ransacked multiplexes across the city for not screening Marathi films.

The cinemas that bore the brunt of these attacks included Nakshatra at Dadar, Starcity at Matunga and Cinemax at Kandivali. At Cinemax hundreds of MNS party workers vandalised the cafeteria and beat up the multiplex manager.

Following the violent protests, city police had arrested over 20 MNS activists, who were later released on bail.

Raj Thackeray had also received such notice earlier for his inflammatory speech targeting North Indians in 2008.

 

[Pintu]

Welcome to the local airport mall - Mumbai - City - The Times of India

Welcome to the local airport mall
TNN, Aug 21, 2010, 06.06am IST

MUMBAI: Indian airports, particularly those at Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, are seeing a steady change in their revenue models—one which will soon place them alongside international airports like Changi, Sydney or Houston.

These Indian airports are increasingly making more revenue from non-aeronautical sources, and industry experts predict that soon their non-aeronautical revenue will exceed aeronautical revenue. In fact, Mumbai Airport has already made the grade: its non-aeronautical revenue was more than what it earned from aeronautical sources last year.

Aeronautical revenue basically comprises charges levied on airlines for conducting operations at an airport. Non-aeronautical revenue comes from things like shop rentals, advertisements, car parking fees and so on. With most Indian airports expanding their retail and other facilities like car parks and advertisements, they are set to join the ranks of international airports like Changi, Sydney, Amsterdam and Heathrow, which make 60-70% of their revenue from non-aeronautical sources.

While five years ago, most Indian airports were making only 20% of their money from non-aeronautical sources, the figure has now gone up by 30-40%. Mumbai Airport, for 2009-10, made 39% from non-aeronautical sources and 40% from aeronautical charges.

The previous year, the percentage of the airport's non-aeronautical charges was 41%, two per cent more than the total aeronautical revenue. Hyderabad's new greenfield airport registered a ratio of 48:52 (non-aeronautical: aeronautical) in 2008-09. The airport registered a 50:50 ration for 2009-10. Bengaluru Airport made 38% of its revenue from non-aeronautical sources in 2008-'09. The revenue, however, dropped to 30.25% in 2009-10. Delhi Airport refused to share the figures.

"In 2007, Mumbai Airport's earning from non-aeronautical sources was only 29%. The quantum started increasing by 2008, when it jumped to 37%. Now it will only look up,'' an airport official said. "Hyderabad hardly had any major earnings out of this source. It has caught up since 2009,'' he added.

The scene at these airports is looking up, say industry experts. With T3 in Delhi, which has 20,000 square feet of retail area, and the upcoming X-shaped terminal in Mumbai, the chunk of retail-related charges will soar much above aeronautical sources. "Today, international airports are like shopping arcades where flights take off and land. T3 in Delhi is the benchmark for Indian airports. The integrated terminal will follow. The share of non-aeronautical revenue at these airport will be 50-60% in no time,'' said Kapil Kaul, CEO, South Asia, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA). "It was because of the huge non-aeronautical potential that private developers bid so aggressively for Mumbai and Delhi,'' he added.

According to Kaul, it isn't just international retail but also domestic retail which has witnessed a tremendous increase in India. "A huge chunk of passenger traffic in India is on the domestic sector. This is why airports are now paying attention to expanding retail in domestic terminals,'' said Kaul. This April, Mumbai Airport also opened the swanky terminal, 1C, with 9,672 square feet of retail and 11,750 square feet devoted to a food court.