Business News

• Air fare hike: CCI writes to ministry
• ITC resumes cigarette production
• Reliance Media links pact with Russian cos

Air fare hike: CCI writes to ministry

In the wake of a surge in air fares charged by most domestic airlines, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has shot off a letter to the civil aviation ministry to ascertain whether the carriers acted in unison to hike ticket prices.

“We have not taken a prima facie view on the issue as yet and neither have we started any investigation. Had we taken a prima facie view, we would have launched investigation ourselves”, CCI officials said, affirming that a letter has been written to the ministry seeking facts on the matter.

They said “our suspicion arose on the basis of media reports and the statements issued by the civil aviation minister (Praful Patel) on the matter”.

The ministry is yet to respond, they said, adding that the antitrust watchdog has sought information on air fares since June this year to ascertain whether the airlines acted as a cartel to hike air fares.

i: In the wake of a surge in air fares charged by most domestic airlines, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has shot off a letter to the civil aviation ministry to ascertain whether the carriers acted in unison to hike ticket prices.

“We have not taken a prima facie view on the issue as yet and neither have we started any investigation. Had we taken a prima facie view, we would have launched investigation ourselves,“ CCI officials said, affirming that a letter has been written to the ministry seeking facts on the matter.

They said “our suspicion arose on the basis of media reports and the statements issued by the civil aviation minister (Praful Patel) on the matter“.

“The ministry is yet to respond,“ they said, adding that the antitrust watchdog has sought information on air fares since June this year to ascertain whether the airlines acted as a cartel to hike air fares.

ITC resumes cigarette production

ITC Ltd, India's largest maker of cigarettes, resumed production yesterday following a 21day shutdown after the government allowed companies to continue using existing pictorial warnings on tobacco products.

All the five factories of ITC resumed production and dispatches, spokeswoman Nandini Basu said over telephone on Thursday. The Kolkata based company halted cigarette production on 1 December, as it awaited clarity from the government on the display of pictorial health warning labels.

India's ministry of health and family welfare in May ordered all tobacco product makers to carry graphic pictorial warnings on their product packaging from 1 December, which cautioned buyers of the possible risk of mouth cancer, replacing the image of lung cancer. B

Reliance Media links pact with Russian cos

Anil Ambani group company, Mumbai: Anil Ambani group company, Reliance Media Works Ltd, said it has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russian World Studios (RWS) and Obyadinennaya Gosudarstvennaya Kinokollektsia.

The MoU was signed during the India visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a press release issued here on Thursday stated.

Russian World Studios, a part of JSFC Sistema, is one of the largest private film companies in the Russia and has produced several projects, both for TV and the big screen.

OGK is Russia's federal state unitary enterprise that preserves and manages the Russian film archives.