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Air India Layoffs: Middle East crisis: Air India says no layoffs planned, asks staff to cut discretionary spending – The Times of India
Air India has told employees that it does not anticipate layoffs despite mounting financial pressures linked to the Middle East conflict, while also directing teams to sharply reduce costs and suspend discretionary spending.During a townhall meeting on Friday, Air India chief human resources officer Ravindra Kumar GP assured staff that job cuts were not expected even as the airline navigates a difficult operating environment.“We don’t anticipate layoffs,” Kumar told employees, according to news agency PTI.The management, however, indicated that annual salary increments would be deferred by at least one quarter due to the uncertain economic situation.Kumar also said the airline would proceed with variable pay for the last financial year and continue with planned promotions.
CEO urges strict cost control
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson asked employees to maintain a “laser sharp focus” on cutting unnecessary expenses and improving operational efficiency.Calling for a “relentless focus on costs in these tough times”, Wilson urged staff to suspend discretionary spending, renegotiate rates wherever possible and defer non-critical expenditures.“There must be a laser sharp focus on eliminating wastage and leakages,” he said, as per PTI.The townhall was also attended by chief financial officer Sanjay Sharma.
Middle East conflict raises pressure
The Tata Group-owned carrier is facing multiple headwinds due to the ongoing Middle East conflict, which has significantly increased operational costs.Airspace restrictions and rising jet fuel prices have added pressure on the loss-making airline at a time when it is implementing an ambitious transformation plan aimed at modernising operations and improving profitability.The conflict-driven disruptions have impacted flight routes and increased fuel expenses for airlines globally, with carriers operating international routes among the worst affected.
Lake Oswego in Oregon.
Bradleyhebdon | Istock Unreleased | Getty Images
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
A wave of states deciding to take aim at a tax incentive for investors and startup founders could sway some high-net-worth residents to relocate, lawyers to the wealthy told Inside Wealth.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act turbocharged the tax breaks on qualified small business stock, better known as QSBS. However, some states, including Maine and Oregon, have targeted the tax incentive in response to federal funding cuts.
“Tax policy has consequences, both good and bad, and I think that the states need to figure out what makes the most sense for them,” said David Blum, partner and chair of Akerman’s national tax practice group. “Someone looking for a substantial exit could have multiple homes already.”
Blum noted that several billionaires have made high-profile departures from California as a state billionaire tax proposal gains steam. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who has bought mansions in Nevada and Florida, is funding two ballot initiatives that take aim at the wealth tax measure.
The QSBS exemption, introduced during the Clinton administration, was designed to encourage investing and creating small companies. The federal carve-out allows investors and founders to reduce their capital gains taxes when selling stock directly acquired from a qualifying C corp.
In order to claim the full exemption, the stock must be held for more than five years. Prior to the OBBBA, the maximum exemption from capital gains taxes was $10 million or 10 times the original basis of the investment, whichever is greater. The OBBBA raised the exclusion to $15 million. The bill also raised the maximum size of qualifying “small businesses” from $50 million to $75 million in gross assets.
Last month, Maine and Oregon passed legislation to decouple from the federal QSBS exemption, meaning that taxpayers will have to pay state income taxes on startup exits. Similar efforts in New York and Washington state failed to pass. The District of Columbia Council voted to decouple from several provisions of the OBBBA, but Congress passed a resolution to block that move.
Four states already tax gains on QSBS: Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and, most notably, California, the nation’s venture-capital center.
Proponents of QSBS reform argue that the regime primarily benefits the wealthy. Research by the Department of Treasury found that taxpayers who earn more than $1 million account for nearly 75% of gains excluded.
Lawyer Steve Oshins told Inside Wealth that QSBS laws and other tax proposals aimed at the wealthy encourage high earners to move to other states.
The tax burden depends on where the shareholder lives when they sell their stock, which gives clients time to plan. Oshins said it is possible in some states to use trusts to avoid state income taxes on QSBS. Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming are popular jurisdictions for establishing these trusts.
For instance, he said, a resident of Oregon could transfer stock to an incomplete non-grantor trust set up in a state that doesn’t tax trust income, like Nevada. As long as the trust is not administered in Oregon and none of the trustees live there, the trust’s capital gains would not be subject to Oregon income taxes.
But other states, including Maine, have more stringent rules, he said. Non-grantor trusts are subject to state income if funded by a Maine resident or created by the will of one, according to Oshins.
That said, the most straightforward course of action is to move.
“Let’s say a client is about to hire me and says, ‘I have a summer ho me in Florida, I’m thinking of moving there,'” Oshins said. “I’ll say, ‘Let’s wait a few months. Move there. Then let’s set up your trust.'”
But changing your domicile is easier said than done, Blum said. To pass muster with state tax authorities, clients have to do more than change their voter registration and and spend at least 183 days in another state.
“When it comes to changing residency and your domicile, you really have to move and uproot your life,” he said.
David Hinton faced criticism after outages affected tens of thousands of people in Kent and Sussex.
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The world’s busiest oil supply passage is in a chokehold, and the ripple effects are being felt across nearly every corner of the globe. The pressure is already showing up everywhere: at petrol stations, in grocery bills, and along global trade routes. The conflict, which has continued to intensify since February 28, has already pushed crude prices beyond the $100 mark, but experts warn a far steeper surge may lie ahead, with prices potentially soaring past a whoppping $167 per barrel and even to $200.With war tensions escalating in the Middle East, economists and energy experts are warning that if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed through September, the fallout could trigger one of the worst energy and trade shocks in modern history.According to projections from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, cited by The Washington Post, a prolonged closure of the Strait could send oil prices soaring above $167 a barrel. However, some analysts are warning of an even darker scenario with some believing crude prices could surge to $200 a barrel if disruptions intensify. A recent note from Australian investment bank Macquarie Group suggested that if the conflict continues through June, oil prices could briefly surge above $200 per barrel.However, Vikas Dwivedi, global oil and gas strategist at Macquarie, told CNN earlier that the probability of such a scenario is around 29%. At the same time, the expert also noted that even if the war ends, oil could still climb to $200 a barrel if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, a possibility that US President Donald Trump also raised.
Biggest crisis in history
Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, had already described the current oil supply turmoil as “indeed the biggest crisis in history” in an interview with France Inter radio. But the fallout from the Middle East conflict spills far beyond soaring fuel prices, with its impact threatening to disrupt global trade, strain supply chains, and deepen economic uncertainty worldwide.An analysis by independent trade monitoring body Global Trade Alert, reported by the Financial Times, suggests that prolonged conflict-driven oil market instability could significantly weaken global commerce. Using models based on earlier shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2008 commodity crash, the study found that continued fuel price volatility could reduce global trade growth by 1.75% by the end of next year, a steep drop from prewar expectations.Simon Evenett, founder of Global Trade Alert and trade expert at IMD Business School in Lausanne, warned that world merchandise trade may prove far less resilient than early signals suggest. He said sustained fuel price volatility slows global trade growth, with the full economic impact often taking up to 19 months to materialise. His warning was stark: “The worst may be ahead of us.”Such a downturn could seriously dent the World Trade Organization’s March forecast, which had projected global goods trade growth of 1.9% in 2026 before improving to 2.6% in 2027. The WTO had already estimated that sustained high oil prices could shave 0.5 percentage points off 2026 growth, but the latest worst-case scenarios suggest the hit could be far deeper.From surging fuel costs and strained supply chains to slowing trade and recession fears, the Middle East conflict is no longer just a regional war story. If the Strait of Hormuz remains trapped in crisis, the shockwaves may reshape the global economy long after the headlines fade.
Middle East continues to boil
Meanwhile, the Middle East crisis has shown occasional signs of cooling, every peace push so far has ended in a stalemate. The latest standoff came on Thursday when US President Donald Trump claimed that three American naval destroyers were fired upon while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, though none of the vessels sustained damage. Trump also issued a fresh warning to Iran, threatening stronger military action if Tehran does not move quickly to sign a deal.In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the three “world class” US destroyers had transited the Strait successfully despite coming under attack, adding that while the American ships were unharmed, Iranian attackers and several small boats were “completely destroyed.”The conflict began on February 28, when US and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran, after which Tehran tightened its noose on the crucial Strait of Hormuz. Since then, oil supplies across the globe have been disrupted and crude prices have continued to swing beyond $100 per barrel, even touching $126 per barrel mark.
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