Future Group to list second company

Future Group is all set to get its second company listed. The company is expected to raise around Rs 2000 crore from the initial public offer. The nature of the company to be listed is not yet known but the group’s capital or the logistics businesses are most likely to be the ones.At present, Pantaloon Retail is the Rs 4,000 crore group’s only listed company that operates in six verticals: retailing, capital, brands, space, media and logistics. In the retail business, Pantaloon Retail is complemented by group companies, Indus League Clothing - which owns apparel brands Indigo Nation, Scullers and Urban Yoga - and Galaxy Entertainment, which operates Bowling Co, Sports Bar, F123 and Brew Bar. Pantaloon Retail, the group flagship, has nine subsidiaries, eight partnerships and 10 retail chains such as Food Bazaar, Big Bazaar and Central. Recently, the group launched Future Money, a consumer credit and financial supermarket format, and plans to offer insurance products through a joint venture with Italian insurance major, Generali. Future Group will also launch KB’s Fair Price, a chain of discount stores where goods would be cheaper by 10 to 15 per cent. The shops will sell FMCG products, essentially Future Group’s private labels. The stores are expected to cater to the urban poor and will be non-AC stores for lesser operation costs.

Air travel Today- the domestic traveler’s ordeal

Chaos, delays, large crowds… this is how one would typically describe air travel, in India, today. With several airlines and growing traffic at domestic airports, it is essential for airline and airport authorities to train their staff to the highest standards possible.

Just yesterday, I was booked on Jetlite, a subsidiary airline of Jet Airways, with a fully paid e-ticket from Bangalore to New Delhi. On arriving at the check in counter, I was requested to go on a later flight with Jet airways as the flight was overbooked, to which I insisted on flying on the current flight as I was not okay with the delay. The check-in manager, in an attempt to convince me, lied that my flight was delayed by 15 minutes anyway, so it will arrive at the same time. Turning down his offer, the check in staff issued me a boarding pass on the same flight.

I hadn’t seen my baby girl for over two weeks, so every minute of the wait to seeing her was like passing an hour! Alas I was pleased that despite the overbooking, I was on the same flight.

After the long uneventful security check, and the never ending line to the departure gate, the airline staff asked me to step aside and informed me that I was booked on a flight five hours later. It turned out that the check in staff had wrongly entered a flight number in my boarding pass.

I was taken all the way back with all my hand luggage unchecked and my boarding pass cancelled. After what seemed like a ludicrous joke between the staff, I was led to the Jet Airways counter and was given a seat on the flight to which I was not okay with. No sympathies, no apologies…and back into the security check line.

One can only imagine how much longer it took for me to see my baby girl that day. All due to a poor airline that overbooks its passengers requests them to reallocate to another flight and has a staff that is prone to error and shows no courtesy or value for a client’s time.

pls forward this in an attempt to improve domestic travel experiences

Sanjay Dutt Free

Sanjay Dutt, is a free man...if only for a while. On an interim bail, I am sure he along with family, friends and fans are desperate to see him out of jail, even though it may be short lived.

Despite being an admirer of his recent work and his conduct in general, I fail to understand why alot of us seem to be confusing him with "Munna Bhai", the character from 'Munna Bhai MBBS' and its sequel.

Sanjay Dutt is not Munna Bhai and Munna Bhai is not Sanjay Dutt.

What we as the public feel for is the character in the movie. What the film community feels is for a respectable peer and friend to some.It should not be about who your father was, who your sister is, and what ordeal you have gone through in your life that gains sympathy of the public vote. Alas, we find ourself in a position where as Indians, we are driven by emotion and not intellect.

Though the judicial system may be considered harsh, they should be fair and decide for him, how they will decide for a common man.

My prayers are with the actor. May his judgement be fair.