India emerges 2nd in medical tourism race

India spends 1।2% of its GDP on health, but takes care of foreign patients — the country ranks second in medical tourism. In 2007, Indian hospitals treated 4.5 lakh patients from other countries against topper Thailand's 12 lakh.

A two-year study by healthcare researchers Deloitte revealed there's always been an inflow of patients from neighbouring countries and West Asia, but now there's a significant rise in patients from the US, UK and Europe।

Cheaper treatment is a huge attraction and, during recession, that's a big fact। But other factors, too, have contributed to the growth of medical tourism in India. "Indian clinical and paramedical talent is globally appreciated and with JCI accreditation of some hospitals, international standard is proven. Third-party intervention through health insurance has also given it a boost," said Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Group of Hospitals.

"Thailand, which revolutionized medical tourism, is more into cosmetic surgery; India focuses on cardiac, neurological or orthopaedic problems," Bali said।

Another significant factor is long patient waiting list, especially in the UK and Europe। The per-capita healthcare expenditure in Korea is $720 against India's $94. Treatment cost is lowest in India — 20% of the average cost incurred in US; in Singapore, Thailand and South Africa, it's 30% of the US cost.

Medical tourism showcases the potential of Indian healthcare sector to the world which dreaded India for the incidence of AIDS, tuberculosis, cancer, malaria and diabetes.

Jet Airways announces daily flight on Kuwait-Mumbai route

Private carrier Jet Airways said on Thursday that it will launch daily direct flight service on Kuwait- Mumbai from March 29, 2008. "This will be the airline's second daily service to Kuwait from India, complementing the airline's existing Kochi-Kuwait service," the company said in a statement।

Flight 9W 572 will depart from Mumbai at 7pm and would arrived at Kuwait at 8।30 pm. Similarly, Flight 9W 571 will take-off from Kuwait at 9.30 pm and would reach Mumbai at 4 am, it added.

"We are confident that the new Mumbai-Kuwait service will prove similarly popular with passengers," Jet Airways CEO said.

Falling demand, soaring costs put pvt rail operators off track

Private rail operators, including Adani Rail Logistics, Gateway Rail Freight, Boxtran Logistics, are facing tough times due to rising operational costs and declining cargo demand over the past few months। Around 15% of the containers of these companies have been running empty. Analysts feel, utilisation levels could further dip to 30% in the short term due to global slowdown.

Apart from reduced cargo volumes, private rail operators are also grappling with poor infrastructure, high set-up costs and haulage charges that is causing operational costs to rise। Says Ajay S Mittal, CMD, Arshiya International, a domestic railway cargo operator, “A rise in operational costs and haulage charge is not the only area of concern for the private rail operator. Increasing shortfall of cargo will also have an effect on the revenue earnings.”

Globally, container volumes are expected to be lower in 2009। Analysts say, global container volumes could grow by 2.8% this year, which is much lesser than the 7.2% growth registered in 2008, though a large part of this growth was realised in the first half of the calendar year 2008. The global slowdown is expected to adversely impact the country’s export-import scenario and as a consequence, it could result in single digit growth in container traffic.

According to a Mumbai-based analyst, against the backdrop of declining global containerised trade, the business in India is also on a declining trend। India’s containerised cargo business for December 2008 declined 19% compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. In January 2009, it declined 26% on a year-on-year basis.

This situation is in contrast to private players who were keen on entering the rail operators’ segment on expectations of large volumes of containers in the domestic as well as exim routes.
“The profit margins in this business are also very low, while the initial investment is high. Thus, the time required to break-even in this business is relatively longer. Even small changes in the business will have a big impact on margins,” said a senior official of Adani Logistics.A senior industry official pointed out that if the operating environment for a private rail operator continues to deteriorate, the proposed investment of an additional Rs 1,000 crore by them may become unviable.

Five more airports to levy development fee on passengers

The international airports at Chennai, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Goa and Ahmedabad will soon get the government's nod to levy development fee on passengers to raise funds for their expansion, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said on Thursday।

"We are doing this to bridge the capital funding gap. We would also allow other airports, which are being upgraded, to levy additional charges from passengers," the official, who did not want to be identified।

The AAI, which is developing these airports, has approached Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel for immediate approval, he added।

The minister, after inaugurating a departure terminal at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here last week, had said other airports being upgraded by the AAI would also be allowed to levy development fees।

About 20 more airports, including those at Kolkata and Chennai, are being upgraded by the AAI on an investment of Rs.120 billion (Rs.12,000 crore). Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), the developer of the IGI Airport, has started charging Rs।200 from domestic passengers and Rs.1,300 from international travellers as development fee from March 1.

On the other hand, GVK-consortium, the developers for Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at Mumbai, will levy Rs।100 per trip on domestic passengers and Rs.600 on passengers flying abroad from April 1.

Domestic passengers already pay Rs।375 and Rs.260 to fly out of the greenfield airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore, respectively, while international passengers at these airports are charged Rs.1,000.

Calling it a pre-development fee, world's biggest travel lobby, International Air Transport Association (IATA), has criticised India for imposing such charges and said it was against the interest of passengers.

Hotel booking facilities for Rajdhani passengers soon

Passengers travelling on Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express would now have the option of booking a hotel along with their railway ticket with Eastern Railway tying up with a hotel in New Delhi।

"Rajdhani passengers who want to stay in Delhi overnight can now get their hotel booking along with their railway ticket। We have tied up with Ginger Hotel in New Delhi," ER General Manager Deepak Krishan told reporters.

Talks were on for tie-ups with other economy hotels and retiring rooms at other destinations, Krishan said, adding similar tie-ups with luxury hotels could be considered if passengers so demanded।

Asked whether the slashing of airfare following reduction in ATF prices would see a drop in Rajdhani fares to keep it competitive, Krishan said fares of the Rajdhani had not been hiked when there was a airfare rise in the past। "We, therefore expect some loyalty from the passengers now."

He said surveys were constantly been carried out to find out the demands of the passengers.
"Some want Rajdhani to leave here at 7.00 pm to reach New Delhi at 8.00 am the next day. For that, we need to fence a large stretch of the route for high speed. This could be done at almost zero cost if the state governments come forward to help," Krishan said after flagging Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express on its 40th anniversary run on Tuesday.