Rupee rises 9 paise to 87.79 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee rose 9 paise to 87.79 against the dollar in early trade on Friday, bolstered by a drop in global crude oil prices and optimism around an India-US trade deal.
However, FII outflows prevented sharper gains, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 87.78 against the US dollar before dropping marginally to 87.79, down 9 paise from its previous close.
The rupee appreciated 5 paise to close at 87.88 against the US dollar on Thursday.
"The Reserve Bank of India was again present at 87.95 yesterday (Thursday), ensuring that the rupee does not cross 88.00 level and the rupee closed with optimism of a US-India trade deal at its peak. Global sentiment remains mixed as oil prices move higher," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.08 per cent higher at 99.01.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.55 per cent at USD 65.63 per barrel in futures trade.
"After gaining more than 5 per cent on Thursday due to US sanctions on two Russian oil companies exports (which account for over 5 per cent of the total world oil output), Brent oil prices were stable at USD 65.63 per barrel and set for its biggest weekly gain since June 2025. Prices are higher by 7 per cent on a weekly basis, reflecting one of the most significant weekly rebounds in about 4 months," Bhansali added.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 153.18 points to 84,403.22 in early trade while the Nifty was down 51.1 points to 25,840.30.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,165.94 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
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Indigo cancels 67 flights from multiple airports due to bad weather, operational issues
Mumbai (PTI): Domestic carrier IndiGo on Thursday cancelled 67 flights from multiple airports due to "forecasted" bad weather and operational reasons, according to the airline's website.
Of the 67 cancelled flights, only four were for operational reasons, and the rest were due to "forecasted" bad weather at various airports, including Agartala, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Varanasi, Bengaluru, among others, as per the website.
Aviation regulator, DGCA, has announced the period between December 10 and February 10 next year as the official fog window this winter.
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As part of the DGCA fog operations (CAT-IIIB) norms, airlines have to mandatorily roster pilots who are trained to operate in low-visibility conditions, as well as deploy a CAT-IIIB-compliant aircraft fleet for such operations.
Category-III is an advanced navigation system that empowers an aircraft to land under foggy conditions.
Category-III-A is a precision instrument approach and landing that enables a plane to land with a runway visual range (RVR) of 200 metres, while Category-III-B helps in landing with an RVR of under 50 metres.
IndiGo, whose operations are under DGCA monitoring after the cancellations of thousands of flights early this month, is already operating a curtailed schedule in compliance with the government's order.
Under its original winter flight schedule, the airline was permitted to operate 15,014 domestic flights per week, or about 2,144 flights per day, roughly six per cent higher than the 14,158 weekly flights it operated during the summer schedule of 2025.
However, after the massive disruptions, which saw the airline cancelling 1,600 flights on a single day on account of new rest norms for pilots, which allow more rest to the pilots, the government cut down the airline's domestic flight schedule by 10 per cent or 214 flights per day.
As a result of that, IndiGo can't operate more than 1,930 flights per day on domestic routes under its current winter schedule.
The Rahul Bhatia-controlled airline cancelled thousands of flights between December 1 and December 9 on account of a lack of proper planning, and crew shortage in implementing the new set of regulations for pilots' duty period and rest, which were put in place from November 1, thereby causing severe hardships to lakhs of air travellers.
Following this, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) formed a four-member panel, comprising Joint DG Sanjay Brahamane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, senior Flight Operations Inspector Kapil Manglik, and FOI Lokesh Rampal, with a mandate to identify the root causes of widespread operational disruptions at the Rahul Bhatia-controlled domestic carrier.
The panel, which has already grilled IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Chief Operating Officer Isidre Porqueras as part of its probe, is expected to submit its report by this week.
Meanwhile, IndiGo, in a travel advisory on X, said, "Low visibility and fog over Bangalore has impacted flight schedule. We are keeping a close watch on the weather and doing our best where you need to be safely, smoothly".
Reacting to the advisory, an aggrieved passenger, in an X post, said, "My flight on December 20 from Bhubaneswar to Ahmedabad got delayed for more than five hours, and today my return flight from Ahmedabad to Bhubaneswar also got delayed more than three hours with the same excuse as bad weather. I am travelling with my senior citizen parents, and this delay is not acceptable. Need proper explanation, along with compensation".
