Pilot Fatigue, Bitter Standoff

Good Morning. Indian skies are getting busier, with passenger numbers hitting a record every year. Airlines, too, are ordering new aircraft to expand operations. But one gnawing problem is rearing its head again: the rift between airlines and pilots over how much pilots should work. Now, a bitter standoff over fatigue rules has pitted pilots against the aviation regulator yet again. 

Indian indices remained flat on Tuesday — auto and finance stocks did well on festive optimism, but it was offset by retreating information technology (IT) stocks over the news of fees on H1B visas. The BSE Sensex closed at 82,102.10, lower by 57.87 points or 0.07%. The Nifty50 was down 32.85 points or 0.13%, closing at 25,169.50.

In other news, the US said talks with India on trade have accelerated, but have they? Meanwhile, this week’s Build on Blockchain addresses how blockchain technology could bring more credibility to documents and certificates.

DECODE THE NEWS

India’s New Fatigue System Has Pilots On Alert: Here’s Why

By Zinal Dedhia

What?

When a string of pilot deaths made headlines two years ago, the stories jolted public attention to a silent risk in aviation — fatigue. The tragedies sparked urgent conversations about whether India’s skies were safe enough for those flying them.

Now, two years on, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has introduced a Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS). This data-driven system will use a software and also inputs from pilots to decide their fatigue levels.

This is different from the existing Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules that takes into account the actual hours the pilot is flying, the timings of the flight and the hours of night time flying they are undertaking.

Last week, India’s pilot union and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) clashed publicly over just how fatigue should be managed. At the heart of the storm is the new FRMS proposed by the regulator, a model that shifts responsibility to airlines to track and address crew tiredness through data and self-reporting.

Why?

“In the fatigue risk management system, what mechanisms do Air India and IndiGo have for managing this fatigue? They have no system,” Sam Thomas, president of Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA), told The Core.

Pilots' association argue that FRMS gives airlines too much freedom, undermining court-ordered limits on flight duty hours and weekly rest.

The DGCA, on the other hand, claims that the system is both modern and collaborative. It pointed out that countries like New Zealand, Singapore, several in Europe and the UK, as well as carriers in South America, already have years of experience running FRMS.

“Methods to track fatigue have to be decided by the airlines. It’s a software mixed with physical monitoring, jointly reviewed by a team including the airline and pilots. The FRMS is only a guiding circular,” Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, director general of DGCA told The Core.

The question is, if the news system takes off, can it truly keep fatigue from landing in the cockpit?

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BUILD ON BLOCKCHAIN

Blockchain Could Be The Peacemaker India Needs For Endless Land Disputes

By Vishwas Ved

What?

Property disputes not only waste decades of people’s lives, but also jam up the courts.

Fake academic and professional credentials are another big problem recruiters face. Even if a headhunter spots some anomalies in a candidate's resume, there's no easy way to verify them. 

It’s frustrating, and the problem comes down to the same issue: records are too easy to fake in our country, and therefore, you cannot blindly trust them.

To restore that trust, the system has to be built in a way that nobody can pass off fake documents as genuine. 

One system that could bring back this trust and integrity of the documentation process is blockchain.

Why? 

The most talked-about feature of blockchain is its immutability. 

The conviction that it can’t be modified no matter what makes people believe in it, and it can change the way we transact with each other. 

To prove how blockchain works, let's first go back to land records. If ownership was logged into a system that couldn’t be changed by anyone — be it a clerk or someone with influence — courtroom disputes wouldn’t take long to resolve. In fact, more cases would be settled without any legal intervention.

The record would stand as it was first entered, open for anyone to see, not hidden in dusty files. Better still, nobody can claim it got “lost” along the way.

Does this work for other credentials, too?

This series is brought to you in partnership with Algorand India.

CORE NUMBER

25,000 units

This is the record retail sales for Maruti Suzuki on the first day of Navratri, with the company expecting the figure to soon touch 30,000, The Economic Times reported.

Why It Matters: Maruti is India’s largest automaker, and the sales surge shows how GST 2.0’s rate cuts are colliding with festive demand to create a record-breaking boost.

By The Numbers: Maruti Suzuki also saw 80,000 customer enquiries on Monday, the highest in 35 years.

75,000 total bookings so far, with 15,000 new bookings every day (50% higher than normal)post GST 2.0 announcement

50% surge in small car bookings, signaling a strong shift toward entry-level demand

Flashpoint: Dealers reported stocks running low for some models, staying open late into the night to hand over cars.

Others Followed: Tata Motors delivered 10,000 cars with 25,000 enquiries; Hyundai billed 11,000 units — its best single-day tally in five years.

FROM THE PERIPHERY

Oil, Trade, Truce?

Mixed signals from the US continued. After last week's discussions, India and the US had further talks on Monday where progress seemed to have been made. "We had meetings with them again yesterday, and it has to do with their purchase of Russian oil," Reuters quoted said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as saying on ABC News. However, US president Donald Trump, on the other hand, launched yet another diatribe at the United Nations General Assembly, saying India and China were “key funders” of the Ukraine war through Russian oil purchase.

The Context: Any progress is good news, as the current total tariffs of 50% are hurting several Indian industries, including shrimp, textile and others, as the US is India's largest export market. India's buying of Russian oil, sanctioned by the US, was a major point of contention between the two countries.

What Next? India's trade minister, Piyush Goyal, is scheduled to visit the US this week to further advance trade talks. Bloomberg also reports that India will likely bring up ease of access for skilled Indian workers even as the US announced the $100,000 H-1B visa fee.

H1-B Out, GCCs In?

The steep H1-B visa fee of $100,000 that US president Donald Trump imposed earlier this week will likely accelerate how much American banks rely on Indian global capability centres (GCCs), according to analysts and industry experts. 

Setup: Already, Wall Street firms such as Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs operate large GCCs in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad; these hubs handle technology, risk, compliance and accounting functions and have grown steadily as part of a broader trend of multinational corporations shifting back-office and mid-office work to India. 

What This Means Going Forward: “The new H-1B restrictions will only accelerate this trend, pushing more cross-border technology and high-value roles into India hubs,” said Parvathy Tharamel, a partner at law firm Trilegal. 

Slower PMI, Stronger Mood.

The HSBC-S&P Global composite Purchasing Manager Index (PMI), a monthly survey-based indicator that tracks the health of an economy’s private sector, fell from 63.2 in August to 61.9 in September. Specifically, flash manufacturing PMI fell to 58.5 from 59.3, while the services business activity index dropped from 62.9 to 61.6.

Backdrop: The survey also said that job creation slowed in September, with fewer firms adding staff. Overall business costs eased, but manufacturers raised prices sharply, citing higher material costs. 

Flashpoint: Despite US tariffs, business sentiment improved, supported by strong demand and recent cuts in goods and services tax (GST). 

PODCASTS

Why Markets Are Directionless Again

On Episode 686 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Garima Kapoor, Economist & Executive Vice President at Elara Securities (India) as well as Ajay Kedia, Director at Kedia Advisory.

• Why markets are directionless again

• Silver has already risen 50% this year and why it could go further?

• Automakers are reporting big sales numbers on first day of new prices

• Why a look at India’s remittance economy is important in the context of the new H1B rules

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✍️ Zinal Dedhia, Kudrat Wadhwa | ✂️ Rohini Chatterji | 🎧 Joshua Thomas

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