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New Delhi: A group of Akasa Air pilots are accusing the airline's trainers of indulging in favouritism, alleging that pilots with limited experience or with a history of safety violations are being promoted while deserving ones are being failed. The airline has denied the allegations.In a letter to civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu, the pilots have sought a probe into the airline's training practices by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and enforcement of rules. ET has seen a copy of the letter. The pilots have also met the minister along with officials from DGCA.In a statement, Akasa Air termed the allegations as "baseless and untrue.""Our commitment to employee centricity is at the heart of everything we do. Our monthly employee survey reveals that pilots, among all employee groups, have consistently reported the highest levels of job satisfaction, highlighting the effectiveness of our supportive culture," said a spokesperson for the budget airline.116324235She said 324 pilots have joined Akasa since October 2023. "During this same period, we have recorded an annualised attrition of less than 1%," Senior DGCA officials said they are investigating the matter and have sought a response from the airline on the issues raised by the pilots. Last year, Akasa Air had taken pilots to court after they had resigned to join another airline without serving the mandatory notice period. The airline subsequently dropped the case.The allegations come at a time when the airline is raising fresh capital and has signed a non-binding term sheet with Premji Invest and the family office of Manipal group owner Ranjan Pai.The pilots named Floyd Gracious, vice president, operations, at Akasa, saying that the "favouritism and bias" is happening at his behest."The primary cause of these issues lies in the airline's management, notably under Captain Floyd Gracious and his associates. He is indulging in divisive politics and mismanagement, which continue to erode trust and morale within the industry," the pilots wrote in the letter.Gracious, a seasoned aviation professional, earlier led flight operations at Jet Airways, and has been instrumental in the airline's steady growth.After starting in August 2021, Akasa was able to exploit a Covid-induced drop in aircraft rentals and easy availability of pilots and cabin crew to add 25 aircraft.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) returned as buyers in December after heavy selling in October and November, fueling the market's recovery from November lows, purchasing equities worth Rs 14,435 crore through exchanges as of December 13.The total FII buying, including exchange purchases and investments through the 'primary market and others' category, reached Rs 22,765 crore as of December 13, according to NSDL data. This robust buying activity has sparked a rally, particularly in large-cap stocks, with the banking and IT sectors witnessing significant gains.“Even though FIIs have turned buyers in December, they have been large sellers,too, on certain days. This indicates that at higher levels, they may again turn sellers since Indian valuations continue to be relatively high compared to other markets,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist of Geojit Financial Services.Rising dollar is another concern which might prompt FIIs to sell at higher levels, Vijayakumar added.However, this cannot be denied that the FIIs turning net buyers after a period of selling has provided much-needed momentum to the market, bolstering investor sentiment and driving indices higher.The recent rally in the Indian market has also been driven by positive political developments, a recovery in corporate stocks, increased foreign investments – both in primary and secondary markets and broad sector participation.Also read: Sebi likely to facilitate retail participation in Algo Trading“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) enhanced liquidity by lowering the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), likely boosting market sentiment. Additionally, India's Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation dropped to 5.48% in November from 6.21% in October, enhancing investor confidence and raising hopes for potential monetary policy easing by the RBI, said Vipul Bhowar, Senior Director - Listed Investments at Waterfield Advisors.Historical data shows that the Nifty index has closed higher in 71% of December since 2000, with significant gains noted in 2023 and 2020.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

The markets had a wide-ranging week once again; however, they ended near its high point this time. The Nifty had ranged sessions for four out of five days; the last trading day of the week saw the Nifty swinging wildly before closing near its high point. The trading range also remained wider; the Index oscillated 611 points over the past sessions. The volatility, though, took a back seat.The India VIX came off by 7.69% to 13.05 on a weekly basis. The Nifty closed a notch above its immediate resistance points; the headline index finished the week with a net weekly gain of 90.50 points (+0.37%).116317084The week was set to end on a negative note had the markets not surged higher on Friday. From a technical perspective, Nifty has resisted the 100-DMA placed at 24709 over the past several days. Following a massive rebound that the Nifty witnessed from lower levels, the Index has closed a notch above this important resistance level.For this upmove to extend itself, Nifty will have to stay above the 24700 level. Any slippage below this point will again send the Nifty back inside the wide 24400-24700 trading range. Failure to sustain above the 24700 mark will mean an extended period of consolidation for the markets. However, the longer the Nifty stays above 24700, the greater the possibility of this upmove extending itself.The coming week is expected to start quietly, with the levels of 24790 and 25000 acting as resistance points. The supports come in at 24590 and 24400 levels. The trading range will continue to stay wider than usual.The weekly RSI stands at 56.37; it stays neutral and does not show any divergence against the price. The weekly MACD is bearish and stays below its signal line.The pattern analysis of the weekly charts shows that the Nifty suffered a brutal mean reversion process. The Index was 16% higher than its 50-week MA at one point in time.During the recent sharp corrective move, the Nifty tested this level again. It subsequently found support and staged a strong technical pullback. The market's finding support at the 50-week MA has reinforced the credibility of this level as one of the important pattern supports for the market. On the daily timeframe, the Nifty has attempted to cross above the 100-DMA level after resisting it for a couple of days.The markets may attempt to resume the technical pullback that it started by rebounding off the 50-week MA level. For this to happen, it would be crucial for Nifty to keep its head above the 24700 mark.It is also important to note that any slip below the 24700 level would drag the markets back inside the consolidation zone.The volatility is once again towards the lower end of its range; there is a possibility that we may see a surge in volatility in the coming week.It is recommended that investors stay invested in relatively stronger stocks and sectors. Rather than blindly chasing the rising stocks, investments must be appropriately rotated into the sectors showing stronger or improving relative strength. While mindfully protecting profits at higher levels, a cautious outlook is advised for the coming week.In our look at Relative Rotation Graphs®, we compared various sectors against CNX500 (NIFTY 500 Index), which represents over 95% of the free float market cap of all the stocks listed.116317090Relative Rotation Graphs (RRG) show no major change in the sectoral setup. The Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Private Banks, and IT indices are inside the leading quadrant.These groups are likely to outperform the broader markets relatively.The Pharma and Midcap 100 indices are inside the weakening quadrant. These sectors are likely to see a continued slowdown in their relative performance.The FMCG, Energy, Media, Auto, Energy, and Infrastructure indices are inside the leading quadrant. These groups may exhibit relative underperformance against the broader Nifty 500 index.The PSU Bank index continues to rotate firmly inside the improving quadrant. The Realty and the Metal indices are also inside the improving quadrant; these groups are likely to improve their relative performance against the broader markets.Important Note: RRG™ charts show the relative strength and momentum of a group of stocks.In the above Chart, they show relative performance against NIFTY500 Index (Broader Markets) and should not be used directly as buy or sell signals.Milan Vaishnav, CMT, MSTA, is a Consulting Technical Analyst and founder of EquityResearch.asia and ChartWizard.ae and is based in Vadodara. He can be reached at milan.vaishnav@equityresearch.asia