Domestic, overseas airfares on the rise since March on higher costs, demand
By Rohit Vaid, New Delhi
Airfares across domestic as well as international routes in India have risen on a sequential basis since March, according to datasets analysed by businessline, with international sectors witnessing a sharper increase amid higher operational costs and strong summer travel demand.
ABV, KEY METRIC
Pricing trends shared by online travel agencies ixigo, Cleartrip and Wego showed that international average booking values (ABV) and route-level fares continued to rise through April and May. In simple terms, ABV is the total amount of money a traveller spends on a single transaction, serving as a key metric for how much revenue a platform or airline generates per confirmed reservation. Data is currently unavailable for North American routes as domestic airlines have curtailed operations.
According to data from Wego, international ABVs increased significantly from approximately ₹22,700 in February to over ₹32,600 in May. Domestic ABVs rose at a slower pace, moving from around ₹8,800 to ₹9,400 during the same period. Data from Cleartrip showed that the average international airfare for April/May stood at ₹74,500, compared with ₹52,000 in the corresponding period last year.
DOMESTIC FARES
Additionally, domestic airfares averaged ₹8,450 against ₹5,850 a year earlier. Bernard Corraya, General Manager at Wego, stated that the sharper rise in international ABV reflects growing traveller confidence, with users spending more on longer stays, premium experiences, and international journeys.
Sequential increases were visible across several international sectors tracked by ixigo:
- Mumbai-Kuala Lumpur: Rose from ₹10,778 in March to ₹22,650 in April, remaining elevated at ₹21,069 in May.
- New Delhi-Ho Chi Minh: Increased from ₹14,688 in March to ₹23,178 in April, before easing slightly to ₹21,256 in May.
- Bengaluru–Singapore: Climbed from ₹12,417 in March to ₹19,914 in May.
- Mumbai-Krabi: Increased from ₹15,186 in March to ₹21,500 in May.
- New Delhi-Phuket: Rose from ₹13,404 in March to ₹19,500 in May.
LONG-HAUL SECTORS
Long-haul sectors also recorded elevated levels. Fares between New Delhi and Paris increased from ₹33,442 in March to ₹39,242 in April. Mumbai-Singapore fares climbed from ₹15,680 in March to ₹22,617 in May.
Domestic fare increases remained comparatively moderate:
- Mumbai-New Delhi: Increased from ₹6,530 in March to ₹7,526 in April, easing slightly to ₹7,442 in May.
- Bengaluru-New Delhi: Rose from ₹7,931 in March to ₹8,969 in April, staying elevated at ₹8,799 in May.
PRICEY TRAVEL SUMMARY
- Avg. International Fare (April/May 2026): ₹74,500 (vs. ₹52,000 last year).
- Mumbai-New Delhi: ₹6,530 (March) → ₹7,526 (April) → ₹7,442 (May).
- Mumbai-Kuala Lumpur: ₹10,778 (March) → ₹22,650 (April) → ₹21,069 (May).
- Bengaluru–Singapore: ₹12,417 (March) → ₹19,914 (May).
- Mumbai-Krabi: ₹15,186 (March) → ₹21,500 (May).
India develops world’s first AI gene editor for crops
Tool can tweak a plant’s DNA to develop traits such as higher yield, disease resistance By Prabhudatta Mishra, New Delhi
In a breakthrough that could redefine crop biotechnology, scientists at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s (ICAR) Central Rice Research Institute have developed and experimentally validated the world’s first AI-designed genome-editing tool for plants. This marks a major advance beyond existing CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology, which depends on naturally occurring microbial proteins.
Significance of Gene-Editing
Gene-editing is significant because it allows for the development of traits like higher yields, disease resistance, and improved nutrition without introducing foreign genes. In theory, grains can be re-engineered to lower starch or sugar content and boost protein levels.
Until now, gene-editing tools relied on proteins borrowed from microbes. However, artificial intelligence can design entirely new enzymes from scratch that work efficiently inside plants. This could open the door to tailor-made editing systems that are cheaper, more versatile, and less constrained by global CRISPR patents.
A Leading Breakthrough
Led by scientist Kutubuddin Ali Molla, the team showed that AI-designed enzymes can accurately edit plant DNA, enabling gene knockout, base editing, and prime editing in crops. While a US company had earlier developed a similar AI-designed system for human cells, this is the first successful demonstration in plants.
Molla stated, “The platform may open new avenues for building customised genome-editing systems for agriculture and could also help address some intellectual property limitations associated with existing CRISPR technologies”.
Rice as a Model
The new platform, named Plant-OpenCRISPR1 (POC1), builds on OpenCRISPR-1 (OC1), an AI-generated nuclease originally developed for human cells. The team developed and validated a suite of POC1-based tools using rice as a model, demonstrating the versatility of AI-designed systems in agricultural biotechnology.
Amazon Now to deploy 1,000 Eicher e-trucks
Mumbai
Amazon India announced on Monday its plans to deploy approximately 1,000 Volvo Eicher electric trucks to support the operations of its quick commerce service, Amazon Now, by 2028. Currently, 50 of these e-trucks are already operational.
In their daily operations, these trucks are expected to:
- Cover a range of 100-180 km.
- Support multiple trips between various facilities.
- Utilize a fast-charging time of approximately 50 minutes.
Future shock
Q4 results strong but momentum under question
India Inc has sprung a surprise by reporting good growth for the January to March quarter of 2026, even as markets have been correcting due to relentless selling by foreign investors. An analysis of Q4 results from 650 companies shows a sharp improvement in revenue growth to 13.7 per cent, with a healthy profit growth of 17.8 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.
Earnings Momentum
Revenue growth accelerated from 11.7 per cent in Q3, while profit growth gathered pace from 11.2 per cent in the same period. Operating profit margins improved to 30.3 per cent for Q4 FY26, up from 26.3 per cent in the preceding quarter, despite commodity inflation. However, these figures do not include results from oil majors, and it remains to be seen if this momentum can be sustained amid ongoing energy shocks and supply chain disruptions.
Key Macro Takeaways
There are four major takeaways from these results from a macro perspective:
- Consumption: Both urban and rural consumption fired in tandem. FMCG and retail saw growth of 14 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, while discretionary spending surged in sectors like e-commerce (141 per cent), financial services (48 per cent), and jewellery (47 per cent). This suggests the stimulus from September 2025 GST cuts is still having an effect.
- Investment Spending: Certain pockets performed well, including power equipment (131 per cent growth), electrical goods (43 per cent), and railways (28 per cent).
- Margin Resilience: India Inc's margins remained resilient against spiraling energy and metal prices caused by the war. However, this was partly due to companies using up existing industrial input inventories and rupee depreciation helping service exporters.
- Debt and Labor: Companies reported improved interest coverage of 7.5 times, suggesting they remained frugal on debt. Conversely, employee costs dropped to 13.8 per cent of revenues from 14.5 per cent a year ago, indicating that wages are growing more slowly than corporate profits.
Outlook
Overall, while FY26 closed on a positive note, FY27 is expected to be more challenging. The coming year will likely see inflation testing consumer spending while rising input costs may begin to squeeze corporate margins.
Benefits of beekeeping
Agriculture policy discourse overlooks pollination By Monika Shukla and PVS Suryakumar
Climate variability has become the new normal. Agriculture can, therefore, no longer be understood merely through the conventional lens of seed, fertilizer, irrigation, and markets — in other words, inputs and outputs. Farming is fundamentally an ecosystem in which soil biology, insects, trees, water cycles, and pollinators together shape productivity and resilience.
Among them, bees remain one of the least recognised contributors to agricultural output. California’s almond industry deploys nearly 1.6 million honeybee colonies every February; without them, there is virtually no crop. The global economic value of pollination services, according to IPBES (2016), is estimated at $235–577 billion annually.
Many crops central to India’s food systems and rural economy — including mustard, sunflower, fruits such as mango and litchi, vegetables, seed spices, and coffee — rely significantly on insect pollination. Even self-pollinated crops often record measurable gains in yield and quality in the presence of active pollinators.
Yet pollination rarely figures in mainstream agricultural policy discourse. In India, beekeeping is still often treated as a rural enterprise activity rather than as part of the ecological infrastructure underpinning agriculture itself. On the occasion of World Bee Day on May 20, this approach should be revisited.
ECOLOGICAL IMPACT
Across India and much of the world, pollinator populations are under growing stress from habitat loss, mono-cropping, indiscriminate pesticide use, and climate variability. Agricultural intensification has progressively homogenised farm landscapes, reducing the hedgerows, flowering vegetation, mixed cropping systems, and shade trees that once sustained pollinators.
Coffee offers an instructive example. In the biodiversity-rich coffee landscapes of the Western Ghats, pollination is not merely an ecological concern but a measurable contributor to farm productivity. Managed bee pollination trials undertaken by Humble Bee across coffee estates in Coorg have demonstrated yield improvements of at least 5.3 per cent without additional expenditure on fertilizers, irrigation, or other farm inputs. Research shows that yield improvements in mustard and sunflower range between 15-45 per cent when pollinator presence increases.
India, therefore, sits on a largely untapped reservoir of ecological productivity — one that does not require expensive technologies or major new infrastructure, but the restoration of pollinator systems embedded within nature.
The National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF), approved with an outlay of ₹2,400 crore, reflects an important policy recognition that Indian agriculture must gradually reduce chemical dependence and move towards natural, climate-resilient practices. Yet, every agricultural transition carries anxieties for farmers, particularly around temporary yield uncertainty.
Managed bee pollination can help bridge that gap. As farms rebuild soil biology and reduce chemical intensity, pollinators help restore the ecological processes that sustain productivity and resilience. Natural farming cannot succeed through input reduction alone; it must also rebuild the ecosystem relationships.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The policy implications are straightforward:
- Managed pollination services should be integrated into agricultural support frameworks, FPO initiatives, and natural farming programmes, with support for pollination as a service.
- Bee health and pollinator presence can become measurable ecological indicators alongside soil carbon and soil biology restoration under NMNF.
Pollinator-friendly cultivation can also strengthen India’s positioning in coffee, spices, and horticulture, where sustainability standards are tightening.
Monika is CEO & Co-founder of Humble Bee. Suryakumar is former Deputy Managing Director, Nabard. Views are personal.
New regulatory body to manage Strait of Hormuz operations
Asian News International, Tehran
Iran on Monday announced the launch of a new regulatory body aimed at managing and monitoring operations related to the strategically important waterway, the Strait of Hormuz.
The top security establishment of the Islamic Republic, the Supreme National Security Council, reposted a post on X where it stated that the official X account of the ‘Persian Gulf Strait Authority’ (PGSA) is now operational. The PGSA, introduced at the start of this month, has been characterised as a new mechanism for governing maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The announcement signals the formal establishment of a dedicated body overseeing developments and operations linked to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical maritime trade routes for global oil and energy shipments.
India to continue purchasing Russian crude, notwithstanding US sanctions
ENERGY SECURITY. There is no shortage of crude, says Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Oil Ministry By Rishi Ranjan Kala, New Delhi
India will continue to buy Russian crude oil regardless of the status of the US sanctions waiver, based on commercial viability, after Washington let the waiver on Moscow’s seaborne crude oil expire over the last weekend.
Asked about India’s position on the expiration of the US sanctions waiver, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Oil Ministry, said: “Regarding the American waiver on Russia, I would like to emphasise that we have been purchasing from Russia earlier... I mean before the waiver also, during the waiver also, and now also".
REITERATING POSITION
The statement also reiterates India’s position vis-a-vis its energy security, particularly at a time when crude oil and refined product prices are hitting north, adversely impacting the profits and margins of the PSU oil marketing companies (OMCs).
“It is basically the commercial sense which should be there for us to purchase. There is no shortage of crude. Enough crude has been tied up repeatedly... and this, whatever waiver or no waiver, it (availability) will not affect,” Sharma emphasised.
Kpler noted that even with the waiver uncertainty, it remains difficult to see India materially stepping back from Russian barrels. The issue is no longer purely about sanctions optics, but increasingly about supply security and economics in a much more fragile global crude system.
“With continued geopolitical uncertainty and the Strait of Hormuz (SoH) situation still far from normal, including restricted transits, higher freight risk, and slower flows, Middle Eastern barrels are no longer as straightforward or secure as they were previously. In that environment, Russian crude continues to offer a clear advantage through both pricing and relatively stable logistics via non-Strait routes,” emphasised the global real-time data and analytics provider.
Sumit Ritolia, Kpler’s Lead Research Analyst for Refining & Modeling, explained that even if the waiver lapses, flows are likely to remain broadly stable, although they could ease modestly from March levels. A key distinction often missed is that Russian oil itself is not sanctioned, but certain entities, vessels, and financial channels are. Russia will continue to be a core supplier, but procurement must ensure no involvement of sanctioned sellers or intermediaries.
THE BACKBONE
“Russian crude has remained the backbone of India’s import slate, with flows recovering back toward around 1.9-2 million barrels per day (mb/d) in March (2026) after easing earlier in the year. May import is around 1.9 mb/d till date with overall expected to be around 1.8-1.9 mb/d,” Ritolia said. India’s procurement of almost 2 mb/d of crude oil from Russia is the highest since June 2025.
The shift has been a broader re-optimisation of the crude slate based on availability, refinery compatibility, freight economics, and sanctions exposure. Refiners have remained aggressive buyers of Russian and opportunistic Atlantic Basin barrels, while Venezuelan crude has also made a notable return to India, partially offsetting the decline in Gulf-linked supply.
Sharma noted that the May 15 hike in retail prices of diesel, petrol, and CNG has helped OMCs cut their daily losses from ₹1,000 crore to ₹750 crore. She added that a bailout package for OMCs is “still not on the table”. Prashant Vasisht of ICRA commented that the modest ₹3 per litre hike provides only limited relief to these companies.
Rajnath begins Vietnam, South Korea tour; BrahMos deal talks to progress in Hanoi
Our Bureau, New Delhi
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday left for a tour of Vietnam and South Korea. Prior to his departure, he said he was looking forward to visiting the nations to further expand the scope of bilateral engagement. “The focus will be on deepening strategic military cooperation, strengthening defence industrial partnerships and boosting maritime collaboration, promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region”.
BRAHMOS DEAL
In Vietnam, he will hold bilateral talks with his counterpart Phan Van Giang on deepening strategic military cooperation, likely including the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile deal which is at an advanced stage of negotiations. He will depart for South Korea on Tuesday and return to Delhi on May 21.
His visit to Hanoi follows Vietnamese President To Lam’s tour of India last week, when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others. The Defence Minister’s visit to Vietnam marks 10 years of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the nations, which was upgraded to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the two-day visit of the President of Vietnam from May 5.
SOUTH KOREA VISIT
During his visit to South Korea, Singh will hold bilateral talks with the Minister of National Defence Ahn Gyu-back to review defence cooperation between both sides and explore initiatives to further strengthen bilateral engagements. Singh will also meet Minister of Defence Acquisition Program Administration Lee Yong-cheol and chair the India-Korea business roundtable.
Both countries are said to be working towards a third phase of cooperation for joint development of next-generation defence systems, including anti-aircraft guns, missile systems, autonomous platforms, and AI. The joint manufacturing of the K9 Vajra-T tracked self-propelled howitzers by Larsen & Toubro and South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace is one of the examples of smooth defence industrial engagement between the two sides.
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