Archive: February 1, 2026

Air India Express Rolls Out ‘xpress More Sale’ With Upto 20percent Off

01st Feb: Air India Express, India’s first international value carrier, has announced its ‘Xpress More Sale’, offering discounts of up to 20% on domestic and international flights. The special fares are available for booking from 1 February 2026, with early access exclusively on its award-winning web site airindiaexpress.com, and mobile app, offering travellers the earliest opportunity to book from a wide range of discounted fares. The sale opens on all other major booking platforms from 2 February to 5 February 2026, for travel between 11 February and 31 December 2026, across domestic and international sectors. 

The airline offers Zero Convenience Fees on all bookings made through the airline’s website and mobile app, along with one complimentary date change for the bookings made during the sale period via these platforms.  

Guests booking Lite fares (zero-baggage fare) can add check-in baggage later at discounted rates, ₹1,500 for 15 kg on domestic flights and ₹2,500 for 20 kg on international flights. Guests can also avail 20% savings on Prime and Standard seats, as well as on hot meals. 

Air India Express has received the prestigious Domestic Connectivity Award constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, in collaboration with FICCI and the Airports Authority of India at Wings India, India’s premier Civil Aviation event concluded on 31st January, 2026 at Hyderabad. The airline has been selected by the distinguished jury for enhancing guest experience, growing connectivity, delivering superior services, leveraging digital and technology, driving sustainability, and innovation.  

Air India Express’ growing network spans 45 domestic and 17 international destinations across South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Gulf region. With over 500 daily flights, the airline is the fastest-growing carrier in India, offering guests enhanced choice, connectivity, and schedule flexibility. 

The airline’s website offers fab deals for NeuPass members, including 25% on Business Class fares. Business Class seats are available on over 40 brand new Boeing 737-8 aircraft that Air India Express inducted as part of its rapid expansion.  

The airline also extends special offers with discounted fares and benefits, including zero convenience fees on bookings made on the airline’s website and mobile app for students, senior citizens, members of the armed forces, and their dependents. For added convenience, the website also offers flexible payment options, including EMI and Buy Now, Pay Later plans. Guests booking with select Visa debit and credit cards can book with a flat discount of ₹250 on domestic flights and ₹600 on international flights. 

Luminous Power Technologies Strengthens Its Commitment to Next-Generation Energy Solutions

Mumbai, Feb 01st: Luminous Power Technologies, India’s leading consumer energy fulfillment company, has inaugurated its first lithium-ion battery assembly line at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. This new assembly line marks an important milestone in Luminous’ long-term journey of strengthening advanced energy storage capabilities and reinforces the organisation’s commitment to adopting the latest next-generation energy solutions. 

The newly inaugurated Lithium-ion assembly line has a production capacity of 500 MWh and integrates advanced robotic automation with precision-led manufacturing processes to ensure high standards of quality, safety, and performance across lithium-ion battery packs. 

Rajiv Ganju, Sr. Vice President, Manufacturing & Global Supply Chain, Luminous Power Technologies, said, “At Luminous, manufacturing is a core pillar of our brand promise to deliver reliable, high-quality energy solutions at scale. The inauguration of this advanced lithium-ion battery assembly line strengthens our integrated manufacturing and global supply chain capabilities, while reinforcing our focus on precision, localisation, and future-ready operations. This facility reflects how we are building resilient, technology-led manufacturing ecosystems to support India’s evolving energy needs.” 

The new assembly line can manufacture standalone lithium-ion battery packs, stationary Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and automotive battery packs for e-rickshaw applications. The facility supports a capacity range from 1.2 KWh to 16 KWh for single battery packs, with system-level scalability up to 1 MWh, enabling diverse use cases across residential, commercial & industrial, and electric mobility segments. The assembly line also features end-to-end digital traceability of every battery pack, fully aligned with the latest Battery Aadhaar requirements, enabling complete lifecycle tracking and strengthening regulatory compliance, transparency, and consumer confidence. 

Ganesh Moorthi, Chief Technology Officer, Luminous Power Technologies, said, “The new lithium-ion battery assembly line marks the beginning of a long-term journey for Luminous as we continue to strengthen our capabilities in next-generation energy technologies. Designed to support standalone battery packs, stationary BESS, and e-rickshaw applications, the facility integrates advanced automation with multiple first-of-its-kind quality evaluation technologies. Combined with end-to-end digital tracking aligned with the latest Battery Aadhaar requirements, this assembly line enables us to deliver lithium-ion solutions that meet high standards of safety, reliability, and performance while remaining scalable for future needs.” 

Beyond manufacturing excellence, the Lithium-ion assembly line contributes meaningfully to Luminous’ sustainability objectives. The new Assembly line will play a critical enabling role by supporting renewable energy storage, reducing carbon emissions through EV and grid applications, improving manufacturing efficiency through automation, and supporting circular economy practices through recycling and reuse of battery components. 

The new assembly line is expected to generate employment, contributing to local economic development in the region. The operationalization of the lithium-ion battery assembly line is an important step towards strengthening the brand position as a full-stack consumer energy fulfillment company, supporting India’s transition towards cleaner, more efficient, and future-ready energy systems.

Chennai to host 39th India International Leather Fair 2026 and concurrent events

Chennai, Feb 1: “India International Leather Fair (IILF) has not only served as the biggest display platform of state-of-the-art technologies and innovations, but has been the flag bearer of the Indian footwear and leather industry, reflecting its huge growth. The fair has always attracted huge participation of exhibitors and visitors from India and abroad and has the distinction of being the first fair held at the Chennai Trade Centre, way back in 2001” said Shri Ramesh Juneja, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports (CLE).

Inauguration of the IILF 2026 is scheduled at 10.30 am on February 1, 2026 at the foyer area of new halls 2 & 3 in Chennai Trade Centre. The fair will display the entire range of products relating to leather and footwear industry from raw materials to finished products. Germany and Italy will be having their country pavilions. Like last year, IILF 2026 will have exhibition stands in the newly built halls also.

 Shri Ramesh Juneja added “At a time when India is looked upon as a major production and sourcing hub, IILF will provide a major platform for display of modern technologies and for entering into short term and long-term business tie-ups. I am happy to note that IILF 2026 has attracted more than 425 national exhibitors and about 67 exhibitors from overseas countries”

 Shri R. Selvam, Executive Director, CLE said “The India – EU Free Trade Agreement is a major boon to the Indian footwear and leather industry as European Union is our largest market contributing for 43% of exports. The India EU FTA with 0% import duty in EU for footwear and leather sector will open-up new opportunities for our exporters and will help in achieving our envisaged export target of USD 14 billion by 2030. The India – EU FTA will enhance India – EU co-operation, not only in the area of sourcing but also in the area of investments”.

 Shri R. Selvam, Executive Director, CLE added “We have also requested the Government to implement the Focus Product Scheme for the entire footwear and leather sector, covering all product segments as well as critical inputs and raw materials, so as to develop the entire production eco system in the country and to attract national and overseas investments. Implementation of this scheme is very important to achieve our envisaged turnover target of USD 50 billion by 2029-30 (which includes domestic turnover of USD 36 billion and export turnover of USD 14 billion), as against existing turnover of USD 24.6 billion during 2024-25 (which includes domestic turnover of USD 19 billion and export turnover of USD 5.6 billion)

Shri M. Abdul Wahab, Regional Chairman (South), CLE said “During IILF, CLE is also organising the concurrent event “Designer Fair” at the Convention Centre in Chennai Trade Centre (Stand Numbers CC 10 A to E). The Designers Fair will witness the participation of overseas designers from Italy, USA and Portugal. This fair will provide opportunity to Indian manufacturers and exporters to meet popular designers and explore long term tie-ups for design development”.

Shri R. Selvam, Executive Director, CLE said “As part of export promotion efforts, CLE has organized 17 overseas export promotion events during April 2025 to January 2026, in ten countries namely Italy, UAE, UK, Australia, Bangladesh, Russia, Poland, China, Vietnam and Malaysia. During February and March 2026, we are planning to organize ten more overseas marketing events. Our events have helped in not only promoting the image of India as a reliable supplier of high quality products, but also in forging short term and long term business tie-ups”

Shri R. Selvam, Executive Director, CLE added “The huge growth potential of the industry has resulted in many foreign investments coming to India, particularly in the footwear sector. There is huge scope to get more investments and joint ventures in the products and also in the components sector. CLE has also organized investment promotion events in many countries including China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Poland, UK and Russia. The increasing interest shown by foreign companies to establish their production units in India is a very good sign as this will not only enhance our exports, but will also strengthen our supply chain”

Shri Ramesh Juneja, Chairman, CLE added “We thank the Government of India for the wonderful support provided to the leather & footwear industry. You are aware that the Government has announced tax rationalization measures in Union Budget 2025-26. This includes removal of 20% export duty on crust leathers and 10% import duty on wet blue leathers. We have requested the Government to remove the 10% import duty for crust and finished leathers also. We hope that this will be favourably considered in the upcoming Union Budget 2026-27. This will be a major support measure for promoting manufacture and export of value added products from the country”.

On the whole, the India International Leather Fair 2026 and concurrent events will witness series of events which will open-up new window of opportunities for the overall growth and development of Indian leather and footwear sector.