Indian Stock Exchange Launches Index to Track Travel Listings — India Report

India’s National Stock Exchange has launched the Nifty India Tourism Index to capture the performance of travel and tourism companies within the Nifty 500 Index. The index is used by investors to manage their investment portfolios and serve as a benchmark for different purposes, including tracking expected returns of certain segments. 

The creation of a separate stock market index for tourism indicates significant demand and investor interest in tourism and travel related stocks in India. Recent stock market debuts of TBO Tek and Ixigo reflect strong investor sentiment towards the industry. 

The index is tracking the performance of companies across all these sectors. Companies such as IndiGo, EaseMyTrip, BLS International, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, GMR Airports Infrastructure, Lemon Tree Hotels, Chalet Hotels, and Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India have been included in the index to track the sectoral movement.

This initiative is in line with NSE’s recent endeavors to cater to emerging market trends. The other industries for which NSE has sectoral indices include banks, autos, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, information technology, realty, healthcare, oil and gas and more.

Travel Industry in India: The index has been created when there is a strong push towards development of the tourism and travel sector in India. Travel and tourism are two of the largest industries in India, with a total contribution of about $199.6 billion to the country’s GDP, according to India’s branding and communication arm India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF).

The government has been working to introduce several schemes to promote domestic tourism, even as its global promotion budget reduced by 97%. The aviation sector is expanding, as more airports are being opened to serve the smaller cities. Meanwhile, airlines including IndiGo and Air India have placed significant aircraft orders to expand their domestic and international operations. 

Hotel chains are also looking at Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities to drive their growth. 

Air India Launches Three-Class Configuration for Narrowbody Fleet

Full-service carrier Air India has unveiled a three-class configuration for its newly inducted A320neo narrowbody aircraft. The airline will offer Business, Premium Economy, and Economy cabin classes on domestic and short-haul international routes. 

The airline is working to introduce the three-class configuration across its entire narrowbody fleet over the next year. Its existing fleet is being inducted for refit, and the new aircraft will be delivered in accordance with this configuration, the company said in a statement. 

The new configuration will be available starting July 1 on Delhi-Bengaluru and Delhi-Chandigarh routes. 

InterGlobe Enterprises to Open 5 Hotels in Europe Under Miiro Brand

Indian aviation and hospitality conglomerate InterGlobe Enterprises is set to launch a collection of individually designed hotels in Europe under its new lifestyle hotel brand — Miiro. Over the next two years, the company is set to open five properties. 

Miiro hotels in Paris and Barcelona are scheduled to open this year, while London and Vienna properties will be launched in 2025, the company said in a statement. 

Miiro is a part of InterGlobe’s diversification strategy into Europe. The company has said it would launch hotel properties in key locations across the continent. 

Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Brings The Park Brand to Uttarakhand

Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels has signed a new The Park-branded hotel in Nainital, Uttarakhand. The 65-key property will mark the luxury boutique hotel brand’s entry into the northern state of Uttarakhand. 

The hotel is expected to open by October 2025. The company, that launched an IPO earlier this year, is looking to double its room inventory in India over the next five years. It currently operates 30 hotels across 20 cities in the country.

Delhi Airport Helps Cut Check-In Time With Self Bag Drop Facility  

Delhi international airport has introduced a self-service baggage quick drop facility across terminals 1 and 3. The newly installed machines are an upgrade from the self baggage drop facility installed by the airport at terminal 3 last year. 

The newly installed 50 machines across the two terminals are meant to facilitate faster baggage check-ins within 30 seconds,  Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said. These machines do not require boarding pass scanning or biometric validation as baggage tags from self check-in kiosks contain the relevant information. 

According to DIAL, Delhi is the second airport to introduce this feature after Toronto. The baggage drop facility is currently available for passengers flying on Air India, IndiGo and Air India Express.