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

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 145 points (up 0.4%) and the NSE Nifty is trading up by 37 points (up 0.3%). Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.3%. The rupee is trading at 67.60 to the US$.

In news from stocks in the aviation sector. After the government's attempt to sell a stake in Air India drew a blank again after it did not receive any bids for the national carrier. Notably, the stake sale did not receive any bids even after extending the deadline twice.

The government hopes to call for fresh bids in the next couple of weeks, after the matter is taken up by the Administrative Mechanism (AM), comprising the Ministers of Finance, Civil Aviation and Roads.

Reportedly, the government is mulling a decision to sell 100% stake in the national carrier after a sale of 76% sale was frowned upon by potential suitors.

In addition, the government may also look to include some of the enterprise's prime real estate as part of the strategic sale, giving the final buyer some relief.

Notably, Jet Airways ruled out a bid for debt-laden national carrier Air India citing unfavorable terms of the offer. The government on 1 May extended the privatization process of Air India by a fortnight and clarified various knotty issues identified by potential bidders.

The announcement came just days after rival IndiGo pulled out of the race to acquire Air India's operations meaning the government now has no clear frontrunner in the sale campaign.

Once the country's monopoly airline, Air India has slowly lost market share to new low-cost private players in one of the world's fastest-growing airline markets.

Indian Aviation Spreading its Wings

Air travel has recorded double-digit growth for 40 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. Earlier this 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 about the economy, according to data released by the government, the country's industrial output expanded by 4.9% in April.

The industrial growth, measured on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 3.2% in April last year.

The April number marks an expansion from 4.4% growth recorded in the previous month.

As per the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the manufacturing sector, which constitutes more than 77% of the index, recorded a growth of 5.2 % in April, up from 2.9 % in the year-ago month.

The mining sector too expanded by 5.1%, up from 3% in April 2017.

The growth in power generation, however, slipped to 2.1% in April this year, from 5.4% in the same period a month ago.