Due to this situation, the flight had to be diverted to Bhopal, where it landed safely with the co-pilot in command. The number of passengers on the flight was not revealed. Air India issued a statement saying, “The commander had left the cockpit for a short while to visit the toilet, and on returning found the door locked. The door had got jammed, and all efforts to open it even from inside by the co-pilot failed”.

Company’s statement also reads that the co-pilot took permission from the ground control, diverted the flight to Bhopal and landed at 1755 hours. After landing safely, ground maintenance staff rectified the problem and the flight took off at 2045 hours, after getting clearance by DGCA and it reached Bengaluru at 2230 hours.

The airline also said that the flight was diverted to Bhopal due to technical reasons and that there was a supernumerary trainee pilot in the cockpit with the co-pilot.

Country manager of Visa Information Systems Co Ltd, Jeff Liao, said while talking to the reporters that his fingers are crossed for this opportunity and will be launching its first single-branded Visa card in China as soon as possible. Liao also went on to say, “We can support banks to issue a Visa product at any time, if the regulations allow”.

The country manager added that the company is open to the option of purchasing a local company and emphasized that it could also grow organically with the development of its own products. Liao stated that they are waiting to see what identity Visa can have and what business they can do and also to what extent they can progress to have access to the local market.

The country manager also revealed that the company has not yet applied to the central bank for any kind of renminbi license. According to Chinese laws, the foreign card companies need to co-brand with Chinese partners in order to support their card services.

The quake had killed at least 193 people and injured more than 12,200. Wang Xiaoguang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Governance said, “From what we have learnt from the region’s 2008 quake, economic impacts will be limited. Losses in local areas should not be blown up to a disaster for the whole economy”. By Sunday, the earthquake had affected around 2 million local residents and destroyed more than 26,400 houses. It had also damaged a number of roads and reservoirs.

Investors seemed a bit worried about the country after reports of weak factory production data in China. A few more days are needed to calculate the actual losses, but the figure is expected to be significantly low. Media reports claimed that direct economic losses of about 10 billion yuan could occur due to this quake, which is much lower than the 845 billion yuan which was a result of the Wenchuan quake.

It appears as though the Chinese economy is strong enough to withstand forces of nature as well.

The last time the price of petrol was cut was earlier in the month of April, where it was reduced by Rs. 1.02 per litre, due to a decline in the international rates of oil, as well as a favourable rupee-dollar exchange. This has also trimmed the revenue loss on diesel substantially. On fortnightly basis, the oil companies like Bharat petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum generally align the petrol prices with the international rates.

Moreover, the oil companies now have the liberty to fix petrol rates, since the price of fuel was deregulated in the month of June 2010 by the government. Petrol in India is considered to be a deregulated fuel and the pricing decision depends on oil companies. However, the approval of the oil ministry is taken before the prices are revised. The reduced prices of petrol are mentioned without value added taxes being included. This might be a relief for customers who own petrol vehicles.

Here are the revised rates of petrol across the metros:

Delhi 67.29 66.09 1.20

Kolkata 74.72 73.48 1.24

Mumbai 74.14 72.88 1.26

Chennai 70.34 69.08 1.26

The fare will increase if the trip is made in the night and if the distance exceeds 15 kilometers. Moreover, certain measures will be implemented to address the problem of the shortage of taxis in Beijing. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, along with other departments, held an internal forum on April 9, 2013 regarding the issue. The advisors and the deputies discussed the problem with the passengers across the city.

Over the past ten years, the city of Beijing has been facing the problem of a shortage of taxis, which has remained at 66,000, whereas the permanent population has doubled from 10 million to 20 million. For many years, the taxi fares have remained the same, despite a fuel surcharge as well. The decision on the fares for taxis will be decided, after a public meeting has been held.

On the other hand, a unified taxi telephone booking system will also be launched soon and more than 200 taxi companies will be managed together.

Jairam Sridharan, the head of Axis Bank for consumer lending and payments said, “The self-employed category is definitely riskier than the salaried class. However, we have a clause under which prompt payment will reduce the interest outgo and get a self-employed borrower at par with a salaried one in five years”. Sridharan added that the initial rate for such borrowers will be at 11 percent.

At the end of the second, third and fifth year, the interest rate will get reduced by 0.25 percent each in three phases. He also said that 0.25 percent will be reduced over the base rate, a self employed person will be equal to a salaried borrower by the fifth year.

Sridharan also said that the bank is primarily targeting traders and small businessmen. It was also revealed that more than half of the country is self employed and this segment also faces difficulties in getting bank loans, which forces them to approach the NBFCs and pay higher interest rates.

The efforts have been made due to the fact that the political disputes were affecting the economic relations between the two Asian powers. Last year, the diplomatic issue related to the Senkaku islands (which are claimed by both the countries) had created a massive anti-Japanese demonstrations in the Chinese cities. Moreover, in recent years the bilateral ties between the two countries have repeatedly been strained for many years.

However, last year a visible loss was seen due to the bad blood between these neighbors. This was partly due to the slow growth of the Chinese economy. On March 5, 2013, scholars at an event organized by the Japanese Business Federation – the China Japan Friendship Association and the Keizai Koho Centre, spoke about the importance of increased private sector exchanges.

The importance of the private sector has increased due to recent developments that point to a widening gap in the public sentiments between the two countries. Experts have also opined that much of the private sector exchanges with China have so far failed to reach out to the Chinese people at large.

The Alto 800 was launched in the month of October 2012 and the company has managed to maintain a strong product since the time it was launched. Moreover, with such records it is clear that the new Alto has successfully carried the Maruti Suzuki name forward.

The competition in the small car segment is now increasing, with the Hyundai Eon becoming a serious threat to Maruti Suzuki. However, the Alto 800 has managed to maintain its dominance in the segment. The Alto 800 is an entry level model which generates its power from a 796 cc, 3 cylinder F8D petrol motor which churns out a maximum output of 47 bhp.

The company has also claimed that the vehicle gives fuel economy of 22.47 Kmpl. Maruti Suzuki has put out a dual fuel petrol-CNG model for its entry level hatch in the domestic passenger car market.

India’s largest Oil corporation Indian Oil announced, “Diesel prices will be hiked by 45 paisa (excluding VAT) from Friday midnight”. After the hike, diesel in Delhi will cost Rs. 48.67 per liter from Saturday, against the current rate of Rs. 48.16 per liter.

However, the decision to hike the pries of diesel was held back as a Parliament session was in progress. Thus in order to avoid any confrontation with the opposition, the final decision on the prices was postponed. The Parliament was adjourned on March 22, 2013, after a month long break. In the month of January 2013, the government had authorized state-owned oil companies to hike the price of diesel by a small amount every month.

Oil companies have been allowed to hike the prices of diesel by 50 paise per month until losses on fuel prices were completely wiped out. Moreover, even oil firms have been increasing the price of the diesel every month in equal measures of 45 paise for the past three months.

The cost of the railway freight has not been increased for around 30 years, but this will end after the establishment of the China Railway Corp. Mengshu also added that it is likely to construct the most profitable railways, rather than the most needed. This year Wang also spoke about the issue at the National People’s Congress, which ended on March 17, 2013.

The ministry of railways was dismantled during the session, which was established in 1949. Commercial functions have been taken over by the China Railway Corp and administrative functions have been taken care of by the Ministry of Transport.

The new reform was made after public criticism that the Railway Ministry worked as a policy maker as well as a service provider. In regards to the debt, Wang said that most of it was formed due to the rapid expansion of the high speed rail.