BLR airport to charge vehicles overstaying at arrival pick-up from Dec 8
Bengaluru (PTI): Kempegowda International Airport will levy an entry fee on vehicles that overstay the eight-minute free limit in the arrival pick-up area from December 8.
The airport’s operator, BIAL, on Tuesday announced that it is introducing enhanced pick-up measures to streamline passenger movement, reduce congestion and improve safety.
"Bangalore International Airport Ltd is introducing a lane segregation system to enforce discipline, prevent unauthorised parking and reduce dwell times. This will ease kerbside congestion and deter misuse of the pick-up zone in front of the terminals," a statement said.
Under the new lane segregation system, entry to the designated arrival pick-up zones in T1 and T2 will be free for all private cars (white-board vehicles). However, charges will apply for misuse or overstaying beyond the prescribed time limits, it said.
"The airport will give eight minutes (much higher than international standards) of free use of the zone for all users, beyond which there will be a charge of Rs 150 for overstays from 8-13 minutes and Rs 300 for 13-18 minutes. Any vehicle overstaying beyond 18 minutes will be towed to the nearest police station, and applicable fines and towing charges will be levied," it stated.
BIAL said that all commercial vehicles, including yellow-board taxis and electric cabs, are required to wait for passengers only at designated parking zones.
"To facilitate a seamless pick-up experience, the first 10 minutes of parking will be complimentary. Commercial vehicles arriving at Terminal 1 should proceed to the P4 and P3 parking zones, while those serving Terminal 2 are directed to the P2 parking zone," it said.
Speaking on the initiative, Hari Marar, MD and CEO of BIAL, said that with passenger traffic continuing to rise, especially during the travel season, it is essential to maintain discipline at pick-up zones—not as enforcement, but as a way to protect travellers, ensure orderly movement and strengthen trust in the system.
"When passengers and cab operators follow the designated process, the experience becomes quicker, safer and more convenient for everyone involved. We look forward to the support of all stakeholders in making the airport experience seamless and well organised," he added.
BIAL said it has recently observed an increase in unauthorised halts, roadside pick-ups and vehicles waiting outside arrival gates and exit ramps, leading to crowding and avoidable delays, while also posing safety risks and disrupting traffic flow.
"To ensure a smoother and passenger-friendly experience, travellers and cab operators are encouraged to use only designated pick-up points and authorised aggregators such as Airport Taxi, Uber, Ola, Quick Ride, OHM electric cabs and WTI cabs," it said.
Any deviation—including halting in unauthorised areas, blocking lanes or overstaying beyond the permitted waiting duration—will attract fines applicable to both cab operators and individuals found in violation, it added.
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Ambani, Adani pledge USD 210 bn for India's AI push
New Delhi (PTI): Conglomerates run by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani committed USD 210 billion investment to creating infrastructure that will help India emerge as an AI development hub.
At the India AI Impact Summit, Ambani announced a Rs 10 lakh crore (about USD 110 billion) investment in artificial intelligence over the next seven years in gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centres in Jamnagar, leveraging up to 10 GW of green power surplus, and a nationwide edge-compute layer integrated with telecom and digital operator Jio's networks to deliver low-latency AI across India.
"Our resolve is clear: make intelligence as ubiquitous as connectivity," he said. "When compute becomes infrastructure, innovation will become inevitable."
Adani, on the other hand, unveiled a USD 100-billion investment to develop renewable-energy-powered, hyperscale AI-ready data centres by 2035 -- one of the world's largest integrated energy-compute commitments.
The initiative is expected to catalyse an additional USD 150 billion across server manufacturing, cloud platforms, and supporting industries, creating a projected USD 250 billion AI infrastructure ecosystem in India.
India must architect its own artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure rather than rely on imports, Adani Group executive director Jeet Adani said on Thursday, warning that AI will redefine national sovereignty.
Other major investments announced at the Summit included USD 50 billion commitment by Microsoft by the end of the decade to expand artificial intelligence access across the Global South. "India, not surprisingly, is one of the largest," its vice chair and president, Brad Smith, said.
The firm had unveiled USD 17.5 billion investment in AI investments in India last year.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a new subsea cable initiative to boost AI connectivity between India, the US and other locations, alongside partnerships for cloud infrastructure platform support to over 20 million public servants across 800 districts.
Yotta Data Services, backed by a real estate group headed by Niranjan Hiranandani, announced over USD 2 billion spend on Nvidia's latest chips in an artificial intelligence computing hub it is setting up just outside the national capital.
While Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) signed up ChatGPT parent OpenAI as its first customer for its data centre unit under the global AI infrastructure initiative Stargate, infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro announced a proposed venture with Nvidia to build AI-ready data centre infrastructure, advanced computing platforms, and ecosystem enablement required to support large-scale AI workloads.
