Reliance Jio brings new plans, prices rise by up to 39%
New Delhi, Dec 4: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio will raise mobile call and data charges by up to 39 per cent from December 6 through its all-in-one plans, which still will be an estimated 15 to 25 per cent cheaper than rivals'.
The all-in-one plans will provide at least 1.5 GB per day of data and increased number of offnet calls, the company said in a statement.
The tariff hike, which is planned to match similar increases by rival Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd earlier this week, give 300 per cent more benefits, it said.
"Further to its last statement dated 1st December 2019, Jio...announced the new 'All-in-One plans'. These plans will provide up to 300 per cent more benefits to the Jio consumers. These plans will go-live on 6th December 2019," Jio said in a statement.
The company on December 1 has announced that it will raise mobile plans rates by up to 40 per cent.
According to the new tariff plans, Jio customers will have to pay Rs 555 for 84-day validity and 1.5 GB of data per day, which is 39 per cent higher than the earlier plan of Rs 399 offering similar benefits.
The company has raised the price of Rs 153 plan to Rs 199; Rs 198 plan to Rs 249; Rs 299 plan to Rs 349; Rs 349 plan to Rs 399; Rs 448 to Rs 599; Rs 1,699 plan to Rs 2199, and Rs 98 plan to Rs 129.
The Rs 199 plan, a 28-day validity plan that offers 1.5GB data per day, is about 25 per cent cheaper than the plans of rivals offering similar benefits at a price of around Rs 249.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have already raised mobile services rates by up to 50 per cent effective December 3.
Reliance Jio new plans come in line with expectation of market analysts that the company will price them lower compared to rivals.
"We think the incremental 300 per cent benefit which Jio is talking about is by offering more data allowances. In our view, it incrementally doesn't entice users much beyond 1.5 GB. Even after these hikes, we believe Jio will continue to be 15-20 per cent cheaper than the incumbent operators," Bank of America Merrill Lynch had said.
Telecom companies' move to raise mobile tariff follows the Supreme Court judgement, on October 24 this year, upholding the government's method of calculating revenue share that it should get from earnings of service providers.
Vodafone Idea last month reported a consolidated loss of Rs 50,921 crore -- the highest ever loss posted by any Indian corporate -- for the September quarter on account of liability arising out of the Supreme Court's order.
The company has estimated liability of Rs 44,150 crore post the apex court order, and made provisioning of Rs 25,680 crore in the second quarter this fiscal.
Vodafone Idea which is reeling under massive debt of around Rs 1.17 lakh crore had earlier cited acute financial stress on the company behind the decision to raise mobile call and data charges.
Bharti Airtel has posted a staggering Rs 23,045 crore net loss for the second quarter ended September 30, due to provisioning of Rs 28,450 crore in the aftermath of the SC ruling on statutory dues.
According to government data, the liabilities in the case of Bharti Airtel add up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, of which Rs 21,682 crore is licence fee and another Rs 13,904.01 crore is the SUC dues (excluding the dues of Telenor and Tata Teleservices).
The government is currently not considering any proposal on waiver of penalties and interest on outstanding licence fee based on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), or on extending the timelines for telecom companies to pay up their statutory dues.
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Indigo fiasco: B'luru airport suffers disruptions; over 102 services cancelled, KIAL issues advisory
Bengaluru: IndiGo’s service disruption at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport continued for the fourth consecutive day, leading to the cancellation of over 102 flights on Friday. Many passengers were stranded for more than 12 hours.
According to reports, 52 arrivals and 50 departures were cancelled.
Passengers expressed widespread anger over IndiGo’s lack of proper communication and shared videos and updates on social media highlighting the chaotic situation.
Some users alleged that the airline intentionally cancelled flights to indirectly pressure the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) into rolling back the newly introduced ‘weekly rest’ clause under the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
A user wrote, “An airline that had two years to meet global standards managed to blackmail the government and force a rollback. What about passenger safety and pilot health? The problem is we will keep flying IndiGo because there is no option.”
An airline company that had two years to meet global standards has managed to blackmail the government and forced it to toll back.
What about passenger safety? Pilot health? Problem is we will keep flying indigo because there is no option pic.twitter.com/cpbwf4SM5D
— Snehesh Alex Philip (@sneheshphilip) December 5, 2025
Another commented, “So the blackmail by @IndiGo6E worked. What about the problems faced by passengers? No accountability?”
So the blackmail by @IndiGo6E worked. What about the problems faced by the passengers. No accountability?? pic.twitter.com/9DNxmH8b0I
— CA Brindavan Giri (@BrindavanG) December 5, 2025
The widespread cancellation came owing to pilot and crew crunch after the DGCA introduced crew shortages triggered by the rollout of the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
A social media user, Nitin Malpani shared a video about this and said, "What are you IndiGo staff doing? We have been at Bangalore airport since 8 pm last night till now. Are you playing with children, elderly and sick people just to change the work schedule of the staff?"
A video of exhausted passengers singing bhajans while waiting at the airport has also gone viral.
Meanwhile, at a time when Indigo cancelled flights to major cities, ticket prices of other airlines sharply surged.
As per reports, the New Delhi–Chennai one-way fare touched nearly ₹66,000, while fares on the Mumbai and Kolkata routes also crossed ₹38,000.
A passenger reported that an Air India ticket from Bengaluru to New Delhi for Saturday evening had risen to nearly ₹34,000, leaving many with no choice but to pay increased prices.
Bengaluru airport issues advisory
In a statement issued on Friday, Bengaluru airport authorities said that IndiGo flights to Mumbai and Delhi had been cancelled and advised passengers to check their flight status directly with the airline before arriving at the airport.
They added that their teams were working with IndiGo and other stakeholders to decrease inconvenience and assist passengers affected by the disruption.
ಇಂಡಿಗೋ ಮೂಲಕ ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡ ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಿಂದ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಕರು ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಈ ಸೂಚನೆಯನ್ನು ಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸಿ. ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸಹಕಾರಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು.#ಪ್ರಯಾಣಸಲಹೆ #ಇಂಡಿಗೋ #ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯವಿಮಾನನಿಲ್ದಾಣಬೆಂಗಳೂರು #ಬೆಂಗಳೂರುವಿಮಾನನಿಲ್ದಾಣ #ವಿಮಾನ pic.twitter.com/SLV6Nl69B9
— ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡ ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು (@blrairport_kn) December 5, 2025
Need a sanitary pad for my daughter !
A video of a distressed father pleading for a sanitary pad for his daughter amid the chaos has gone viral across social media platforms, sparking outrage on social media.
In the video, the man can be heard saying, “My daughter needs a pad. Blood is coming out.” He is also seen repeatedly requesting a female staffer for a sanitary pad, but she allegedly refuses.
The video has gone viral, with strong reactions from netizens.
"Need sanitary pad for my daughter," a visibly angry man could be heard venting at the Indigo crew amid hundreds of flight cancellations leaving passengers, in dire need of basic amenities, stranded for hours. pic.twitter.com/TRlMA27DVS
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) December 5, 2025
One user wrote, “What kind of airports do we have where even basic emergency services are unavailable?”
What kind of airports we have where we didn't even have basic emergency services.
— Himanshu (@himanshukr2841) December 5, 2025
Another commented, “Welcome to the world’s fourth-largest economy, where one airline brings the aviation ministry to its knees, and ministers get away with zero accountability.”
Welcome to the worlds fourth economy where one airlines brings the aviation ministry to it’s knees @PMOIndia And the ministers get away with zero accountability
— Pintoo Ganguly (@pintooganguly) December 5, 2025
What caused the IndiGo fiasco?
The disruption at India’s largest carrier, which has a control of over 60% of the domestic market comes after crew shortages, which were triggered by the rollout of DGCA’s new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
According to a NDTV report, the airline has said that it expects to completely restore its normal services within three to four days.
However, following chaos at major airports, DGCA rolled back the newly implemented FDTL norms on Friday.
