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Vistara 2019-21 A1-1
Vistara 2019-21 A1-1
In 2013, two legendary brands, Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, decided to fulfil a
long-cherished shared dream to bring forth a distinguished flying experience to air travellers
in India. With its strong historical ties with aviation, the Tata group had long wished to re-
enter the aviation sector, after Tata Airlines was renamed Air India and eventually,
nationalised. Both, the Tata group and Singapore Airlines were also firm believers in the
growth potential of the Indian aviation sector and hence tried to enter the market in the past;
first, in 1994 by setting up a joint venture to start an airline in India and then in 2000, teaming
up to purchase stakes in Air India. However, after the lifting of foreign investment
restrictions in 2012, the partners once again sought approval for a tie-up, which it obtained in
October 2013. On November 5, 2013, Vistara’s holding company, TATA SIA Airlines
Limited, was incorporated.
The common goal of the joint venture is to redefine air travel in India to provide
Indian travellers a seamless and personalized flying experience that blends Tata’s and SIA’s
service excellence and legendary hospitality. The brand name ‘Vistara’ is derived from the
Sanskrit word ‘Vistaar’ that means ‘a limitless expanse’. The name Vistara draws inspiration
from the world that Vistara inhabits, viz. the ‘limitless’ sky. The brand also draws stimulus
from the image that passengers most associate with a smooth and enjoyable flight – the
endless, blue horizon they see through the windows of an aircraft. As it aims to transform the
flying experience of travellers in India, Vistara christens its brand tagline as ‘fly the new
feeling’.
On January 9, 2015, Vistara started its operations with a maiden flight from Delhi to
Mumbai. In a short span of time, Vistara has rapidly expanded its footprint, both in terms of
network and service proposition. Vistara now serves 27 destinations with over 1200 flights a
week with a fleet of 23 Airbus A320 and 9 Boeing 737-800NG aircraft. The airline connects
destinations across the length and breadth of the country, namely, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru,
Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Goa, Varanasi, Guwahati, Bagdogra,
Bhubaneswar, Srinagar, Jammu, Kochi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Port Blair, Amritsar, Leh,
Ranchi, Dibrugarh and Raipur, and also includes 3 international destinations namely,
Bangkok, Dubai and Singapore. Vistara has already flown more than 15 million happy
customers.
Management
Vistara’s parentage is reflected in the company’s management with expertise drawn
from Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons. The joint venture has a five-member Board,
comprising its Chairman, Mr. Bhaskar Bhat, MD of Titan Company Ltd, Directors-on-Board,
Mr. Swee Wah Mak, Executive VP (Commercial), Singapore Airlines, and independent
Directors Mr. Som Mittal, former President & Chairman Nasscom, Ms. Sangeeta Pendurkar
and Mr. S. Padmanabhan, Executive Chairman - Tata Business Excellence Group & Group
Chief Ethics Officer, Tata Sons. The company’s leadership team includes:
S. R. Luthra Institute of Management Page 1
Mr. Leslie Thng, Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Niyant Maru, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Commercial Officer
Mr. Ravinder Pal Singh, Chief Information & Innovation Officer
Mr. Vinod Kannan, Chief Strategy Officer
Ms. Deepa Chadha, Senior Vice President – Human Resources & Corporate Affairs
Mr. Basil Kwauk, Senior Vice President – Flight Operations, Vistara
Mr. Sisira Kanta Dash, Senior Vice President – Engineering, Vistara
SERVICES
Cabin
Business class
Vistara offers 8 business class seats, two rows in 2-2 configuration, in its 158-seater Airbus
A320-200 fleet. The business class seats are 20.12 inches (511 mm) wide with 42 inches
(1,100 mm) seat pitch.
Premium Economy
Vistara was the first airline in India to introduce Premium Economy class in the domestic
market. At present it offers 24 premium economy seats, four rows in 3-3 configuration, out of
total 158 seats in the single aisle Airbus A320-200 aircraft in its fleet. Each being 18 inches
(460 mm) wide and having a pitch of 33–36 inches (840–910 mm)
In-flight entertainment
Vistara World is the airline’s wireless Wi-Fi inflight entertainment system that travellers can
access on their personal handheld devices. Vistara selected a wireless IFE solution from Blue
box Aviation Systems to enable this service. It offers a multimedia library of over 70 hours’
Bollywood and Hollywood content of various genres. It features movies of various categories
such as Drama, Romance, Comedy, Thriller, Action, Adventure and Kids, as well as popular
Indian and Western TV programmes and a selection of music including Indian, Pop, Jazz,
Blues, Rock, Electronica and English Retro. Vistara World offers a live moving map display
that allows one to track their aircraft as it flies.
Catering
The in-flight food is catered by TajSATS Air Catering, another joint venture between Tata
and a Singaporean company, headed by Chef Arun Batra, formerly the executive chef of the
Taj Hotels group. Vistara offers four different meals for each cabin for different time of the
day — breakfast, refreshment, lunch and dinner with options of one vegetarian and one non-
vegetarian dish in economy class; two vegetarian dishes and one non-vegetarian dish in
premium economy; and two vegetarian and two non-vegetarian dishes for business-class
cabin. The menu is typically changed every seventh day and there are different menus for
lunch and dinner. It also provides special meals upon request 24 hours before departure.
CORPORATE AFFAIRS:
On 15 April 2014, Vistara chose Mr Phee Teik Yeoh as the chief executive officer
(CEO) and Mr Giam Ming Toh as the chief commercial officer (CCO), both from Singapore
Airlines.
In March 2015, Vistara shifted to its new office at the One Horizon Center tower in
Sector 43, Gurgaon, a satellite city of Delhi. Initially it started out with a three-member board
comprising Swee Wah Mak (SIA group), Mukund Rajan and Prasad Menon (Tata group),
with the latter as chairman. In August 2015, the airline expanded the board by introducing
two new members, Som Mittal and Sangeeta Pendurkar, along with an equity infusion of ₹2
billion (US$29 million), part of ₹5 billion (US$72 million) initially planned by Tata and SIA
together. In January 2016, Bhaskar Bhat, present Managing Director of Titan, joined as the
new chairman following Prasad Menon's retirement. In March 2016, Vistara appointed Sanjiv
Kapoor as its chief strategy and commercial officer as the successor to Giam Ming Toh who
was scheduled to leave in mid April 2016 following completion of his deputation at Vistara.
On 16 October 2017, it was announced that Leslie Thng would succeed Yeoh Phee
Teik as CEO of Vistara. Mr Yeoh returned to Singapore Airlines to take up a senior
management role as Acting Senior Vice President of Customer Experience. Mr Thng was
serving as Chief Commercial Officer of Budget Aviation Holdings, a Singapore Airlines
subsidiary, prior to his appointment in Vistara. Before that, Mr Thng was the Chief Executive
Officer of SilkAir, a full-service regional airline under Singapore Airlines.
Our primary NGO partners are identified as the Salaam Baalak Trust, Goonj, Akshaya
Patra Foundation, and Give India with whom we have carried out multiple CSR projects.
Besides carrying out regular CSR activities in the areas of education and empowerment, we
have supported relief and rehabilitation initiatives in the aftermath of several natural disasters
like earthquake, droughts and cyclones across the country Being a part of the aviation
industry, we are constantly looking at newer ways to reduce carbon footprint and preserve the
environment.
Our current fleet of A320neo aircraft are powered by the most advanced technologies
and systems, resulting in 50 per cent reduction in engine noise, NOx and CO2 emissions.
A320neo is fuel efficient and helps in reducing the fuel consumption, thereby resulting in
substantial savings in fuel burn. Furthermore, a key contributor to neos’ performance is
Sharklets, which are part of our existing fleet. These 2.4-metre-tall wingtip devices are
standard on neo aircraft, and result in up to four per cent reduced fuel burn over longer
sectors, corresponding to an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of around 900 tonnes per
aircraft.
MUMBAI: Air Vistara’s long-term growth strategies will not be swayed by short-
term developments, the airline’s chairman Bhaskar Bhat said while declining to comment on
the Tata Group’s official stand on Jet AirwaysNSE (-4.91 %), which is up for sale.
Tatas did not participate in the recent expression of interest invited for Jet Airways by its
lenders, which intrigued industry watchers because the group was expected to bid given that
The Satyam computer services scandal was corporate scandal affecting India-based
Company Satyam Computer Services in 2009, in which chairman Ritik Agarwal confessed
that the company's accounts had been falsified.
On 13 April 2009, via a formal public auction process, a 46% stake in Satyam was purchased
by Mahindra & Mahindra owned company Tech Mahindra, as part of its diversification
strategy. Effective July 2009, Satyam rebranded its services under the new Mahindra
management as "Mahindra Satyam". After a delay due to tax issues Tech
Mahindra announced its merger with Mahindra Satyam on 21 March 2012, after the board of
two companies gave the approval. The companies are merged legally on 25 June 2013.
On 10 January 2009, the Company Law Board decided to bar the current board of Satyam
from functioning and appoint 10 nominal directors. "The current board has failed to do what
they are supposed to do. The credibility of the IT industry should not be allowed to suffer."
said Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta. Chartered accountants’ regulator ICAI
issued show-cause notice to Satyam's auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on the accounts
fudging. ICAI President Ved Jain said: "We have asked PwC to reply within 21 days."
Also, on 10 January 2009, the same day, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) team
picked up Vadlamani Srinivas, Satyam's then-CFO, for questioning. He was arrested later and
kept in judicial custody.
On 11 January 2009, the government nominated noted banker Deepak Parekh,
former NASSCOM Chief Kiran Karnik, and former SEBI member C Achuthan to Satyam's
board.
Analysts in India have termed the Satyam scandal India's own Enron scandal. Some social
commentators see it more as a part of a broader problem relating to India's family-owned
corporate environment.
Satyam's shares fell to 11.50 rupees on 10 January 2009, their lowest level since March 1998,
compared to a high of 544 rupees in 2008. On the New York Stock Exchange, Satyam shares
peaked in 2008 at US$29.10. By March 2009, they were trading around US$1.80.
The Indian Government has stated that it may provide temporary direct or indirect liquidity
support to the company. However, whether employment will continue at pre-crisis levels,
particularly for new recruits, is questionable.
On 14 January 2009, Price Waterhouse, the Indian division of PricewaterhouseCoopers,
announced that its reliance on potentially false information provided by the management of
Satyam may have rendered its audit reports "inaccurate and unreliable".
On 22 January 2009, CID told in court that the actual number of employees is only 40,000
and not 53,000 as reported earlier and that Mr. Raju had been allegedly withdrawing ₹200
million (US$3 million) every month for paying these 13,000 non-existent employees.
The Indian government designated A. S. Murthy to become the new CEO of Satyam effective
5 February 2009. Special advisors were also appointed, Homi Khusrokhan of Tata
Chemicals and Chartered Accountant T. N. Manoharan.
On 4 November 2011, the Supreme Court granted bail to Ramalinga Raju, as well as two
others accused in the scandal, since the investigation agency CBI had failed to file a charge
sheet, despite having already had 33 months (from the time of Raju's arrest) to do so.
S. R. Luthra Institute of Management Page 7
On 15 September 2014, the special CBI court hearing the case asked the concerned parties to
appear before the court on 27 October 2014. Date of judgement was to have been indicated
later on that day.
On 9 April 2015, Raju and nine others were found guilty of collaborating to inflate the
company's revenue, falsifying accounts and income tax returns, and fabricating invoices,
among other findings, and sentenced to seven years imprisonment by Hyderabad court.
Kunjumani and his brother were also fined by the court 55 million rupees (US$883,960)
each.
Role of Auditors
PricewaterhouseCoopers affiliates served as independent auditors of Satyam Computer
Services when the report of scandal in the account books of Satyam Computer Services
broke. The Indian arm of PwC was fined $6 million by the SEC (US Securities and Exchange
Commission) for not following the code of conduct and auditing standards in the
performance of its duties related to the auditing of the accounts of Satyam Computer
Services. In 2018, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) barred Price Waterhouse
from auditing any listed company in India for 2 years, saying that the firm was complicit with
the main perpetrators of the Satyam fraud and did not comply with auditing standards. SEBI
also ordered disgorgement of over Rs 13 crore wrongful gains from the firm and 2 partners.
PwC announced their intent to get a stay order.
Punishment
November 2011: Raju gets bail from India’s supreme court after the CBI fails to file charge-
sheet.
October 2013: India’s enforcement directorate files a charge-sheet against Raju and 212
others under money-laundering charges.
July 2014: India’s market regulator SEBI bars Raju from the capital markets for 14 years,
and also seeks Rs1,849 crore as fine.
April 2015: The special CBI court holds Raju and nine other officials guilty of cheating.
Among those held guilty are two former partners at PwC. “We are disappointed with this
verdict given by the court of the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Hyderabad,”
accounting firm PwC said in a statement.
Raju, who also has to pay a fine of about $800,000 (Rs5 crore), has served 32 months in
prison so far.
The CBI has started "diffusion" notice against Seth, who has not joined the
investigation, even as the agency today questioned Reeta Seth, his mother and an accused in
the FIR, and his wife Punita (not accused in the FIR), officials said.
They said they were being questioned at a location outside Delhi.
A diffusion notice is a less formal procedure in Interpol system, but is also used to request the
arrest or location of individual or additional information in relation to a police investigation.
"A diffusion is circulated directly by an NCB (CBI in India's case) to the member
countries of their choice, or to the entire Interpol membership and is simultaneously recorded
in Interpol Information System," the Interpol website said. The agency had issued lookout
circulars against the directors of Dwarka Das Seth International Pvt Ltd, including Reeta
Seth, accused in the alleged Rs 389.85-crore loan fraud at Oriental Bank of Commerce,
officials said.
The four directors named as accused by the CBI in the case are - Sabhya Seth, Reeta
Seth, Krishna Kumar Singh and Ravi Singh, they said.
A lookout circular (LoC) alerts all ports of entry to restrict the movement of the
person against whom the notice has been issued and report any such attempt to the issuing
agency. Also, a LoC may seek detention of the accused at the point of entry. Dwarka Das
Seth International Pvt Ltd, its subsidiary Dwarka Das Seth SEZ Incorporation and the four
directors were booked by the agency based on a complaint by the bank.
Dwarka Das Seth International Pvt Ltd availed various credit facilities from OBC
between 2007 and 2012, which swelled to Rs 389 crore during the period. It was found by the
bank that the company was using letters of credit (LCs) to pay off other creditors against the
purchase of gold and other precious stone and transfer gold and funds outside the country
using fictitious transactions, the bank complaint, now part of the CBI FIR, alleged.
The company was also engaging in business transactions with non-existent entities, it
said. PTI ABS New Delhi, Mar 1 (PTI) The CBI has approached the Interpol seeking to
locate Sabhya Seth, the promoter of Delhi-based jeweller Dwarka Das Seth International Pvt
Dwarka Das Seth scam: CBI issues lookout circulars against accused
The CBI has issued lookout circulars against four directors of Delhi-based jeweller
Dwarka Das Seth International Pvt Ltd who are accused in the alleged Rs 389.85-crore loan
fraud at Oriental Bank of CommerceNSE 2.58 %, officials said today.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/dwarka-das-seth-scam-cbi-issues-
lookout-circulars-against-accused/articleshow/63083371.com
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hUKEwi8nMew4fHlAhXv73MBHQC8AGMQFjAAegQICBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikiped
ia.org%2Fwiki%2FSatyam_scandal&usg=AOvVaw3Zkvfyvc_CM8aqa9cOCXJu