Some suggestions for Mr. Tewolde Gebremariam, Air India's newly appointed CEO & MD

Barely a year after the terrible crash of AI 171 off Ahmedabad, came yet another shocker for Air India patrons. An Air India flight (AI2379) from Phuket to New Delhi dropped nearly 300 feet mid-air due to severe turbulence on August 4, 2026. The sudden plunge injured 17 people (13 passengers and 4 crew members), who were hospitalized upon a safe landing in Delhi . Some of them described it as nothing short of a "re-birth".

While the turbulence was well beyond anyone's control, yet one wonders at the bare minimum, whether or not not the same could have been preempted in that route, and whether or not some proactive measures could have been taken by the pilots, to prevent such a steep fall?

Well, Mr. Tewolde Gebremariam, has a gigantic challenge upon his arrival- and that is, of battling the immense negative trust factor or perception, among the flyers, where Air India is concerned, especially more so, after the latest fiasco.

Before joining Air India, he spent nearly 37 years with Ethiopian Airlines, including 11 years as Group CEO, transforming it into Africa's largest and most successful airline group.

Quite rightly, he would drawing upon his huge wealth of such experience in turning around Air India now, yet it would be ideal, if he devotes all his energies in doing what ever it takes, to ensure top-of-the line pilot training to handle such emergency situations, and top-of-the line fleet maintenance to ensure that the planes are able to withstand such adverse weather conditions, especially on such challenging routes.

Then the use of the latest technologies - especially predictive analytics and Artificial Intelligence software, tailored for requirements of Civil Aviation, would greatly supplement efforts of his team in Air India, to ensure top -of-the line safety standards of this airline.

It is assumed that Boeing, the aircraft vendor, is a reliable partner, where such efforts are concerned.

Furthermore, it would be a worthwhile on his part, to forge alliances with other leading international airlines with impeccable safety standards, to share best practices, where pilot training and aircraft maintenance protocls are concerned.

And on an ongoing basis, Mr. Tewolde Gebremariam, could establish communication with his loyal patrons, via various communication channels, including WhatsApp, to gauge any shortfalls, where their experience and expectations are concerned. Most importantly, communicate 'Action Taken Reports' on their feedbacks to them, to re-build their confidence in Air India.

With such measures, there is no doubt that Mr. Tewolde Gebremariam, would transform Air India, into a "Maharaja" for the international flyers. 😊 👍

Premiumising WhatsApp :

To realize Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for WhatsApp, Kunal Shah could also consider ‘Premiumising’ it, in the Indian market, to begin with. Those WhatsApp users, who wish to avail this feature, could be made to pay a nominal annual subscription fee.
   
Features could include:

1.     A section – ‘Deals of the day’ on which various entities cutting across sectors and segments, could post their special offers/deals on a day-to-day basis. Such entities could include:

·       Key e-commerce/Quick commerce players like Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Instamart etc,
·       Food delivery platforms, 
·       Financial institutions such as Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Foreign Banks and other regulated entities of the RBI,  besides Insurance companies,
·       Airlines,
·       Hospitality sector etc etc
 
All those entities desirous of reaching out to WhatsApp users, through this section, could be made to pay an annual subscription fee, besides a percentage of the deal so materialized, through this section.   

‘Cred’ can be given a preferential treatment for reaching out to WhatsApp users, without any annual subscription fee, but perhaps on revenue sharing basis.  

Key benefit for the WhatsApp users - getting all the deals/special offers on their respective WhatsApps itself, without having to visit multiple apps/websites etc. For such entities, the key benefit would be the kind of mileage and reach they would get, and at much economical price, besides, higher probability of getting good business,

2.     ‘Attractive Reward Points’ could to be worked out, to motivate the WhatsApp users use ‘WhatsApp Pay’ for such and other transactions. Such points could be redeemed through ‘Special Promotional Offers’, by the partner establishments of WhatsApp.

3.     For professional as well as personal needs, an AI feature, which acts as a personal assistant for all users can be added. For e.g. in a social group if someone posts :

“Looking a suitable match for my son/daughter ….”

Some weeks later, an AI prompt could suggest to that user, “Would you like to repeat this message in say X social group?” and/or the AI prompt could suggest, “Someone in some other group posted similar message using words …… Would you also like to rephrase your post similarly?”

Then, in a corporate/professional group, if someone posts:

“Today is the 25th of the month, I need all of you to post your quarterly progress reports by the close of business hours of 31st of this month.”

Now, if the 25th of next month happens to be a Sunday, then on the 24th of the month, an AI prompt could suggest, “Today is the 24th and tomorrow being a Sunday, would you like to repost that message as, “Today is 24th of the month, I need all of you to post your quarterly progress reports on the 31st of this month”, and /or the AI prompt could suggest “A better way of phrasing your earlier message …………, could be …… Would you like to consider the same?”  

And so on..

Vision for 'Reliance Intelligence'

Reliance Industries 49th AGM was indeed a milestone in itself, as Chairman Mukesh Ambani, spelt out his ambition to disrupt the economics of artificial intelligence, by making it highly affordable and widely accessible in India.

Quite aptly, RIL is approaching AI not as a standalone product but as an ecosystem.

No one can doubt the wisdom behind Mr. Mukesh Ambani's vision for RIL, which has repeatedly re-invented itself ever since his illustrious father began his journey as a visionary. His legacy is being carried forward by the third generation, led by Aakash and Isha Ambani.

Their "ecosystem approach" should essentially entail their "core systems" and offerings, built by both though their in-house talent, as well as by incubating some of our promising start-ups, besides identifying and nurturing the other critical AI talent needed to fulfil their vision.

Furthermore, strategic alliances with leading technology players cutting across geographies could definitely add the much needed "international flavor" to Reliance Intelligence, to make it a formidable global player, with difficult for anyone to replicate it's USP, in this AI domain.

"Easy to use, easy to customize, but difficult to replicate," should be the watch words, for Reliance Intelligence.

Corporate Governance in this age of AI

Some years back, had attended the 'International Round Table on Corporate Governance' organized by The Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

Made the following observations:

a) Can Corporate Governance, even in the most progressive organizations withstand the onslaughts from adverse business conditions, which can even threaten the very existence of such organizations? Thus, if the "name of the game" becomes just remaining focused on the top line for the sake of survival, then can the compliance and internal controls of the organization be compromised to some extent? Our boards are under immense pressure to perform, not just from Sebi but from shareholders, rating agencies and civil society as well. As businesses grow more complex, and stakeholders’ expectations rise, the traditional approach to board evaluation simply won’t suffice,          

b) What can be the role of Corporate Governance in ensuring the financial stability of an economy, with special reference some adverse news from banking system with specific reference to lapses in some of the leading banks, and

c) Why is Corporate Governance generally synonymous with the finance domain of an organization? Yes, it is very important, but then as Corporate Governance is all about the conduct of certain key people in an organization, why can't its essence also give a flavor to the progressive Human Resource practices as well, which can percolate down to the last functionary in the organization?

Reflecting the above in this era of AI, it's reasonable to imagine the role of Agentic AI systems, to evaluate and support, the functioning of the Boards of any progressive organization.

Taking the banking industry in particular, one can visualize a LLM based Agentic AI system at the RBI, which is connected to each bank and other Regulated Entities. LLMs provide the core language understanding and generation capabilities, that enable agents to interact with humans, analyze information and make decisions.

Each aspect of a bank’s/Regulated Entity's functioning, right from Board of Directors, to audit reports, quarterly financial statements etc could be inputted in the system, and based on some well defined norms, the Agentic AI system could identify lapses (if any) and make suggestions accordingly to the bank/RE in question.

Secondly, any such feedback by the Agentic AI system, need not be confined to the bank/RE in question. Rather to be shared as proactive measure, with all the banks and RE’s, in the interests of the stability of our financial system, without of course disclosing the identity of the bank for which the said feedback/s was originally meant.

The RBI top brass should also be in receipt of such lapses so identified by the system, for the necessary corrective actions at their end. This idea can be extended to many other aspects of our banking system.

That, we could then be a role-model for the banking systems in other leading economies as well, is a 'no-brainer'.

Management practices and thought processes across India Inc, are due for a complete reset.

These times should serve as a wake-up call for India Inc, as the consumers are now getting even more price sensitive, and more "value-for-money" conscious. While struggling to meet even their basic necessities, to the same levels as before the crisis, the discretionary spends are witnessing major cuts. Well, the reason is simple. Inflationary pressures due to oil prices and supply bottlenecks, seem to be galloping far ahead from earnings, with uncertainties not showing signs of receding anytime soon. Yes, there is enough reason to be optimistic about hectic back-channel diplomacy at work, to find an everlasting peace in West Asia. Now, even the warring sides have realized the immense damages to their respective economies from the conflict, besides the diplomatic fallouts, in terms of a new "world order", post the cessation of this conflict. But, "when" is the key question waiting for an answer. Time for India Inc to revisit the themes of "Total Quality Management" and "Total Cost Management", with renewed vigor. Besides, "out-of-the-box" thinking, to offer better "value-for-money" to their esteemed clientele. To take a classic example - just yesterday, I received a mailer from 'Marriott Bonvoy', highlighting their tie-up with Swiggy. It said : "As a valued Marriott Bonvoy® member, don’t miss out on making your everyday better. Link your accounts and earn Marriott Bonvoy points on your everyday Swiggy orders, from food delivery to groceries and dining out. " The key take-away from this mailer is that, such leading hospitality chains now need to focus on : 1. Creating a "lifestyle ecosystem", by exploring strategic alliances with establishments such as – reputed international airlines, multiplexes, some leading brands across industries such as apparels, premium car manufacturers, healthcare providers, reputed tour operators, beauty and other top-end lifestyle products etc. Key objective would be cross-promotions of offerings to their esteemed clientele, mainly via cross-linkages to the respective websites/apps of partner establishments/brands, on a quid-pro-quo basis, and   2. Enriching their rewards program by exploring participation with such partner establishments/brands, to enable better fulfilment of expectations of their esteemed clientele. Such "out-of-the-box" ideas now need to find favour, with the C-suites of such businesses, so as to not only retain, but further expand their market share and business volumes. Yes, other businesses across various industries too, need to "take a leaf" out of such an innovative idea, and adapt the same accordingly. Management practices and thought processes across India Inc, are due for a complete reset. 😊

Some light at the end of the tunnel....

Some light at the end of the tunnel, which has sent shivers across the globe.

As per media reports, Iranian President Pezeshkian, has expressed willingness to end the war, but only under strict conditions on the United States and Israel. The comments come at a time when the conflict in the Middle East is escalating, resulting in global oil and gas supply disruptions.

President Pezeshkian has indicated that the only path to ending the war, is the acceptance of three conditions: acceptance of Iran's undeniable rights, payment of reparations, and the imposition of decisive international guarantees against future aggression.

Now being a friendly state to Iran, Israel and the US, India should galvanize, the BRICS grouping, to enter into meaningful diplomacy with both Iran on one side, as well as the US and Israel on the other, in the interests of world peace and prosperity.

If Iran wants decisive international guarantees against future aggression, it should also announce cessation of any support to it's proxies, out to create problems for other sovereign nations like Israel, and invite the IAEA to inspect its uranium enrichment facilities, to ensure that it has ceased such weapons grade enrichment, or does not have it at all.

As a responsible state, Iranian leadership should also enable civil liberties, and address its economic problems by negotiating the lifting of sanctions imposed on it, through BRICS.

Certainly, the world economy just can't afford another shock after the Covid, which has left its scars for all times to come. 😊

Wishing BRICS all the very best !!!!

Cheers to our trade diplomacy !!!!

Cheers to our trade diplomacy, for pulling off five significant FTA agreements in twelve months, with the UK, EU, Oman, New Zealand, and the US!!

More such successes of our trade diplomacy, can be expected going forward!!

These targeted partnerships aim to boost exports, attract investment, and secure supply chains by linking India, with key global markets and diversifying its economic relationship

The watchwords should now be "meticulous implementation and consistent monitoring" of the provisions in these deals, jointly with our respective FTA partners.

Yes, a key aspect which we and our respective FTA partners need to be sensitive about, is that, at the end of it, it would be our respective domestic constituencies, which would be the 'final judges' of the success of such deals. No political establishment can afford to overlook this vital fact.

Once, we do get a 👍 from our respective domestic constituencies, we with our FTA partners can make great strides furthering the scope of such agreements, to include those sectors, which have been left out right now, due to the sensitivities involved.

That, in the ultimate analysis, we can aspire to further strengthen the WTO, to ensure a rules-based, and globally beneficial trade environment, would certainly not be an utopian vision. 👍 😊