Top headlines: Retail inflation rises to 7% in August; AI leases 30 planes

India’s retail inflation rises to 7% in August; July IIP tumbles to 2.4%

India’s retail inflation inched up to 7% in August from 6.71% in July mainly due to higher food prices, government data showed on Monday.

The consumer price index-based inflation is above the Reserve Bank’s comfort level of 6% for the eighth month in a row. Read more

Govt plans Rs 20,000-cr aid to oil firms hit by soaring costs: Report

India plans to pay about Rs 20,000 crore ($2.5 billion) to the state-run fuel retailers, such as Indian Oil Corp., to partly compensate them for losses and keep a check on cooking gas prices, according to people familiar with the matter.

The oil ministry has sought a compensation of Rs 28,000 crore, but the finance ministry is agreeing to only about a Rs 20,000-crore cash payout, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. Read more

WazirX says ED has unfrozen bank accounts, allowing it to continue ops

Cryptocurrency exchange platform WazirX said on Monday the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has unfrozen its bank accounts after more than a month in a case involving suspected violation of foreign exchange regulations.

“After an in-depth internal investigation, WazirX noticed that most of the users whose information was sought by ED were already identified as suspicious by WazirX internally and were already blocked in 2020-2021,” said the company in a statement, adding it can now “continue its banking operations as usual”. Read more

Air India leases 30 planes to boost ops, introduces premium economy class

Air India said on Monday it has leased 25 Airbus narrow-body aircraft and five Boeing wide-body planes, which will enter service from December.

This is the first major expansion of Air India’s fleet under the Tata Group, which took control of the airline on January 27. A wide-body plane has a bigger fuel tank that allows it to travel longer distances, such as India-US routes. Read more

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