AIR INDIA CHIEF KHAROLA NAMED CIVIL AVIATION SECRETARY

NEW DELHI : Air India chief Pradeep Singh Kharola has been appointed civil aviation secretary, a year after he came on board the national carrier, as part of a minor top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected on Wednesday, according to an official order. Kharola, a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, was in November 2017 named the chairman and managing director of Air India Ltd. He took over the reins of debtridden national carrier on January 9, last year. It was under Kharola’s tenure that government last year came up with the proposal to sell off 76% of its stake in Air India.

Cipla profit declines 20% to ₹322 cr in Dec quarter

NEW DELHI: Drug major Cipla Ltd on Wednesday reported a 20% dip in consolidated net profit to ₹322.24 crore for the December 2018 quarter, mainly on account of higher tax expenses. The company had posted a net profit of ₹403.45 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, Cipla said in a BSE filing. Twenty analysts had expected the generic drugmaker to post a profit of ₹372 crore, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Consolidated total revenue from operations stood at ₹4,007.54 crore for the quarter, compared with ₹3,913.82 crore for the same period year ago. “Overall, challenges in this quarter were along expected lines and we remain optimistic as we enter fiscal year 2020. Our plan to drive year-on-year growth from the coming quarters in on track,” said Cipla MD and global CEO Umang Vohra.

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