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New Delhi: Women’s workforce participation in Indian firms may not have reached a sizable proportion just yet, but the gender equation is evolving rapidly in the Indian travel context, with women accounting for over 40% of the leisure customer base of some companies. Travel companies and hotel chains including Thomas Cook, SOTC and Leisure Hotels Group are increasing focus on women travellers amid a surge in demand for trips abroad as well as within the country. Planet Hollywood Goa, a beach resort in South Goa, for example, plans to host a first-of-its-kind Women Fun Fest with a sundowner electric beach bash and pool parties next month for women to “reclaim their weekends” and craft “unforgettable memories” with their tribe. The aim is to curate an experience that transcends the ordinary, said Manoj Mahla, director of Craftworld Events, the company behind the event. “Think thrilling activities and top-notch entertainment,” he added. Rajeev Kale, president and country head for holidays, MICE and visa at Thomas Cook (India), said women travellers have emerged as strong decision makers and are power driving the travel economy with cohorts ranging from mother-daughter bonding trips and babymoons to bachelorettes and corporate women travelling for business cum leisure.“India’s solo women travellers are indeed making their presence felt, with our data reflecting a demand of over 25-30% among women for solo travel bookings since the pandemic,” Kale said. “Women travellers are displaying discerning palates, with requests for exclusive gastronomic experiences and certification courses at the prestigious Cordon Bleu in Paris, to outdoor-adventure experiences like black-water rafting in New Zealand, and abseiling in Malaysia’s Sabah jungles.”And then there is the impact of Hallyu, or Korean wave, with K-dramas, K-pop and K-beauty driving travel demand for South Korean destinations, companies said. In December last year, NomadHer, a South Korean female solo travel app, said it had witnessed a ‘remarkable’ 12-fold surge among Indian women exploring solo adventures. The surge in demand from women travellers is not limited to metros and mini metros, but it’s happening in tier two and three cities across the country as well. There has been a 24% year-on-year growth in women travellers on India’s largest online bus ticketing platform redBus, besides a 35% year on year growth in solo women travellers between 2022-2023. SOTC Travel is seeing a 20% year-on-year uptick in women’s travel. “What is interesting is that we are seeing more women travellers taking the lead to plan their holidays in our Holiday Carnivals – especially in markets like Baroda, Surat, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Chandigarh, and Coimbatore,” said Daniel D’Souza, president and country head for holidays at SOTC Travel. “Basis requests from our women customers we curate customised products,” he said. “Our solo women travellers are seeking offbeat locales like Japan’s Yamanashi, France’s Menton, Switzerland’s Zermatt, Morocco’s Iminifri natural bridge, Vietnam’s Ha Giang, Kashmir’s Daksum, Maharashtra’s Chikhaldara, and Assam’s Kokrajhar.” Companies are taking measures to ensure the safety of women travellers. “Our pink seat feature is also popular as it marks a seat as pink if a female passenger has booked it, which means no male stranger can book the seat next to it,” said Rohit Sharma, COO of AbhiBus, an ixigo company. The company is seeing a 20% on-year growth in solo female bus travel searches and bookings, he said. Leisure Hotels Group, a prominent hospitality chain with a strong presence in Uttarakhand, too has noticed an uptick in female solo travellers in recent years. “We have introduced tailored initiatives to promote solo female travel at our properties. These include heightened safety protocols, easy accessibility from public areas and other women-specific amenities,” company director Vibhas Prasad said. Ankush Tanwar, associate director of sales and marketing at Pilibhit House, Haridwar-IHCL SeleQtions, said that in the last two years, the property has seen a significant increase in women traveling solo and in groups. “We have a private bathing ghat, making it a safe and ideal spot for a holy dip for them at any time of the day,” he said.

Cracking the whip, the Election Commission on Wednesday asked state governments to take down all unauthorised political advertisements from government, public and private properties and send a compliance report in the next 24 hours. In a letter to the Union Cabinet Secretary and chief secretaries of all states and union territories, the EC said that despite its letter issued on March 16 when the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections came into force, it has received complaints that such defacements have not been removed. The Congress had recently raised the issue with the poll panel. "All unauthorised political advertisements, in the form of wall writings, posters, papers or defacement in any other form, cutouts, hoardings, banner flags were ordered to be removed in a time bound manner from public spaces like railway stations, bus stands, airports, railway bridges, roadways, government buses, electric/telephone poles, municipal/local bodies' building and a strict compliance in this was to be ensured," it reminded the governments. The Commission said it has taken a "serious note" of the non-compliance or partial-compliance of its instructions. It directed all state and union territory governments to "immediately remove all unauthorised political advertisements and ensure full compliance of its instructions". It sought a compliance report in this regard by 5 pm on Thursday.

In an effort to handle the huge volume of transactions, all agency banks will remain open to the public on Sunday, March 31, 2024, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sent a press release on Wednesday announcing the same."The government of India has made a request to keep all branches of the banks dealing with government receipts and payments open for transactions on March 31, 2024 (Sunday) so as to account for all the government transactions relating to receipts and payments in the FY 2023-24 itself," the central bank said in a release. Accordingly, agency banks are advised to keep all their branches dealing with government business open on March 31, 2024, Sunday, the release added further. It also stated that banks shall give due publicity about the availability of above banking services on this day.Some public-sector banks (PSBs) are also listed under RBI's agency banks, including Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Bank, and Indian Overseas Bank, among others. Meanwhile, some private banks are also listed under RBI's agency banks, including Axis Bank Ltd, City Union Bank Ltd, DCB Bank Ltd, Federal Bank Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, and ICICI Bank Ltd, among others.

In order to check the use of black money in the upcoming general elections, the income tax department on Wednesday said it has set up a control room in the national capital and a dedicated toll-free number on which people can share information on suspicious movement of cash and valuables within the NCT region. Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation), Delhi, has set up a 24X7 control room at Civic Centre, New Delhi, and toll-free Mobile Number 9868168682 in connection with the General Elections to Lok Sabha, 2024, a finance ministry statement said. The identity of the informant shall be kept a secret, it said. "The vigil through the Control Room will help to check suspicious movement/distribution of cash, bullion and other valuables within the NCT of Delhi," it said, adding the control room will be functional during the entire period of Model Code of Conduct in Delhi. The Model Code of Conduct is already in place with the announcement of the dates for the general elections last week. The elections would be held in 7 phases between April 19 and June 1. The counting of the votes will take place on June 4. Voting for all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi will take place in the sixth phase on May 25. The Income Tax Department, under its commitment to assist the Election Commission of India in curbing the role of black money in elections, encourages the residents to contribute to the process of ensuring clean and fair General Elections to Lok Sabha, 2024, the ministry said. It said any person can communicate with and give any information to the Income Tax Department regarding suspicious movement/distribution of cash, bullion & other valuables etc within the NCT of Delhi, in connection with the General Elections to Lok Sabha, 2024, using the toll-free mobile number. "Residents can contact the Toll-Free Number, and callers to the Control Room need not disclose any personal details, such as name or other details of identity. What is vital is that the information received is credible and actionable," the ministry said. The Control Room shall be functional during the entire period of Model Code of Conduct in Delhi, i.e, from the date of announcement of General Elections 2024, till the same are over in Delhi, it added.

Nifty on Wednesday ended 22 points lower to form a Doji candle on the daily charts which indicates chances of a minor pullback rally.Minor degree positive chart patterns like higher tops and bottoms have been negated recently as per the daily chart. Hence, any upside bounce from here is expected to be a lower top formation in the short term, Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities said.Derivative data implies a muted build-up in Nifty futures, with a marginal rise in Open Interest. Options data revealed writing at the 22,000 and 22,200 strike prices, steering signs of weakness.The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has also displayed a bearish crossover, indicating mounting selling pressure.What should traders do? Here’s what analysts said:Jatin Gedia, SharekhanOn the daily charts, we can observe that Nifty has taken support around the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level of the previous rise from 21530 – 22526. The momentum set up on the hourly time frame suggests exhaustion of selling pressure as there are signs of a positive divergence and is currently having a positive crossover. In terms of price pattern, the daily candle has taken form of a Doji pattern which suggests indecision among market participants regarding the direction as both bulls and bears are trying hard to defend their respective boundaries. This could lead to consolidation and the range could be 21700 – 22000.Rupak De, LKP SecuritiesThe overall sentiment remains negative as the index closed below the previous consolidation low. Additionally, the index ended the session below the critical moving average. However, a further fall is anticipated below the recent swing low on the hourly chart, which is positioned around 21700. On the higher end, resistance is placed at 21900-22000.Tejas Shah, Technical Research, JM Financial & BlinkXNifty has formed a Doji candle on its daily chart which indicates indecisiveness prevailing in the marketplace. So we need to wait and watch, till the high (21,931) or low (21,710) of yesterday's daily candle is taken out for further direction on nifty. The crucial support of 21,863 (50 Day EMA) was breached on a closing basis for two consecutive days which indicates that the weakness is likely to continue. Technically, the evidence continues to suggest that the markets are likely to remain under pressure in the near term. Support for the Nifty is now seen at 21,700 and 21,500-550 levels. On the higher side, immediate resistance for Nifty is at 22,000 Mark and the next resistance zone is at 22,200-250 levels.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)