This refers to ‘New 48-hour free cancellation window introduced for air tickets’ (February 27). India’s aviation watchdog DGCA’s new rule will surely make air travel significantly more flyer-friendly. Passengers can now cancel or amend a booked ticket within 48 hours of purchase without any cancellation fee, provided the ticket is directly booked through the airline’s website. This new rule will address key issues like accidental bookings, sudden plan changes. Delayed refunds by the airlines has been a big complaint by the flyers and to address this a 14-day timeline has been set. All those passengers who book well ahead of travel dates are expected to be biggest beneficiaries of this new rule.

Bal Govind

Noida

Review listing norms

With reference to ‘Securities Bill has a problematic Section’ (February 27), the overriding powers provided to the Centre by the new bill, diluting the critical listing norms in respect of public sector companies, should be reviewed and amended to establish governance transparency in the investment ecosystem. Though the ultimate vicarious liability for any misdeeds of the investee companies lies with the government, being the core promoter and largest shareholder in majority of these undertakings, lack of uniformity of norms among public and private companies, may suppress the competitive spirit.

Sitaram Popuri

Bengaluru

Promote organic spices

Apropos ‘Supply shift reshape spices outlook’ (February 27). In general, spices are long term crops and highly susceptible to diseases that threaten yield as well as quality. Crops like ginger, turmeric and pepper get quickly affected by changes in weather conditions, which compel farmers to use fungicides, etc., to minimise loss. It is time the Spices Board incentivised organic culture by offering weather based selection of spice crops and providing farmers on-field support.

Rajiv Magal

Halekere Village, Karnataka

Improving GDP accuracy

Apropos ‘New GDP series to use 600 item level data’ (February 27), the decision to use nearly 600 items instead of about 180 earlier is a welcome step. The full adoption of the double deflation method will improve the measurement of real growth. This method adjusts the prices of finished goods and raw materials separately across industries. As a result, the effect of inflation is measured more accurately. Earlier, a single price method was partly used. It mainly adjusted only output prices and could affect accuracy. Greater use of survey and GST data will better capture activity across sectors, including small businesses. More reliable GDP numbers will support better policy and investment decisions.

S Balasubramaniyan

Villupuram, TN

Published on February 27, 2026