After opening the day in green share markets in India are trading on a positive note and are presently trading above the dotted line. Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note, with stocks in the and stocks in the witnessing maximum buying interest.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 204 points (up 0.6%) and the NSE Nifty is trading up by 50 points (up 0.5%). Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading down by 0.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.8%. The rupee is trading at 71.79 to the US$.

The government is mulling a strategic sale of four of its subsidiaries to raise funds and help cut debt.

The potential list includes its passenger and cargo-handling business, MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) business, hotels and its regional airline. At the moment, only the cargo-handling business - Air India Air Transport Service (AIATSL) delivers profits for India's national airline.

Strategic sale of AIATSL, which provides ground handling services, is being planned as part of the turnaround scheme for Air India which is reeling under a debt burden of Rs 480 billion at end of March 2017.

In 2016-17, AIATSL clocked a profit of over Rs 334 million, earning Rs 6.2 billion in revenues from its handling operations. Both its revenues and profits dipped as compared to the previous year, but the company hasn't run a loss since it started operations as a separate subsidiary of Air India in 2013.

Earlier it was reported that the government was planning a relief package for the national carrier.

In April, the government had invited bids for a 76% stake in Air India, along with a 100% stake in subsidiary Air India Express, and 50% in Air India SATS Airport Services. However, it did not receive any bids since investors were wary of potential government interference as it would retain a 24% stake. As part of the plan, the government sought to reduce the airlines' costs. In addition, the government also assured the debt-ridden national carrier - Air India of Rs 21 billion in the form of guaranteed borrowing from the government.

The government eventually dropped the plan to privatize the national carrier.

Indian Aviation Spreading its Wings

Air travel has recorded double-digit growth for 45 consecutive months, thanks to low fares, the addition of new flights/destinations, and overall growth in the economy. What's foreseeable for India's aviation traffic in 2018 is some pressure on the back of the consistent rise in crude oil prices. Last month, Brent crude oil briefly breached US$80 per barrel and touched its highest level since December 2014.

Crude prices have been driven up by production curbs in OPEC nations and Russia, as well as by robust demand on the back of healthy global economic growth. Oil prices are closely monitored by the Indian air carriers, as aviation turbine fuel is their single largest input cost. A sharp rise in the cost of fuel puts pressure on margins, and consequently an increase in airfares.

Although air travel is becoming the new normal, investors need to understand the industry dynamics before buying up aviation stocks.

Moving on to news from . is among the top losers today after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) denied its promoter and current CEO Rana Kapoor an extension to continue his term as the bank's CEO.

While the RBI denied the three-year extension approved by the bank, it has allowed Rana Kapoor to continue as the MD & CEO till 31 January 2019.

This will be the second time when an Indian bank chief has failed to get an extension which was approved by shareholders. Earlier, Axis Bank's chief executive Shikha Sharma was denied an extension request by the RBI. Another CEO of ICICI Bank-Chanda Kocchar is being probed for alleged irregularity in loan approvals.

Rana Kapoor's leadership came into question after the RBI pointed out discrepancies in Yes Bank's non-performing assets, the difference between what the bank reported and what the banking regulator found.

On 18 April, 2017, RBI asked all banks to make suitable disclosures wherever the additional provisioning requirements assessed by the RBI exceeded 15% of the reported net profit for the reference period, or if the additional gross NPAs identified by the RBI exceeded 15% of the reported incremental gross NPAs.

At the time of writing, Yes Bank share price was trading down by 20%.