India: Steel tycoon bids to offer commercial India flights on Modi push

JSW Group, the Indian conglomerate led by billionaire Savitri Jindal, applied under a subsidy program spearheaded by prime minister Narendra Modi to improve flight connectivity for small towns and villages. The group made a bid in an ongoing auction process which will allow companies asking for minimum govt subsidies to operate scheduled commercial flights to the country’s underutilised airstrips. Modi has promised tax breaks and waivers of landing and parking charges for some underused airfields in the world’s fastest growing aviation market, which is also among the costliest due to taxes and airport charges. The prime minister is trying connect India’s 450 airports and airstrips, mostly in smaller towns, by vowing to fund some of the airlines’ losses if they fly to such airports. <br/>