top of page

By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

AI’s Maharaja smiles joyfully

All 30 grounded aircrafts now fly Mumbai : Air India’s Maharaja is all pleased as punch at 80. After years of huge costs and efforts, the last of the grounded 30 aircraft – inherited by the Tata Group during the privatization in Jan. 2022 – is now resurrected fully and took to the skies gracefully on Monday.   The aircraft is the gleaming VT-ALL, a Boeing 777-300ER, that was gathering grime since February 2020, and becomes the final among the two-and-half dozen aircraft that have been revved...

AI’s Maharaja smiles joyfully

All 30 grounded aircrafts now fly Mumbai : Air India’s Maharaja is all pleased as punch at 80. After years of huge costs and efforts, the last of the grounded 30 aircraft – inherited by the Tata Group during the privatization in Jan. 2022 – is now resurrected fully and took to the skies gracefully on Monday.   The aircraft is the gleaming VT-ALL, a Boeing 777-300ER, that was gathering grime since February 2020, and becomes the final among the two-and-half dozen aircraft that have been revved up and revived in the past few years, AI official sources said.   It marked a symbolic milestone for Air India itself - founded in 1932 by the legendary Bharat Ratna J. R. R. Tata - which once ruled the roost and was India’s pride in the global skies.   Once renowned for its royal service with the iconic Maharaja welcoming fliers on board, in 1953 it was taken over by the government of India. After years of piling losses, ageing aircraft, decline in operations and standards – almost like a Maharaja turning a pauper - it returned to the Tata Group four years ago.   This time it was not just the aircraft, the brand and the deflated Maharaja coming into the large-hearted Tata Group stables, but a formidable challenge to ensure that the airline could regain its old glory and glitter. Of the total around 190 aircraft in its fleet were 30 – or 15 pc – that had been grounded and neglected for years.   At that time, the late Ratan N. Tata had directed that all these valuable aircraft must be revived as far as possible and join the fleet. Accordingly, the VT-ALL, languishing at Nagpur for nearly five years, was ‘hospitalized’ at the Air India Engineering Service Ltd., its MRO facility in May 2025.   New Avatar Then started a thorough, painstaking nose-to-tail restoration of an unprecedented scale, in which over 3000 critical components were replaced, over 4,000 maintenance tasks executed, besides key structural upgrades like the longeron modification, engines, auxiliary power units, avionics, hydraulics, landing gears and almost every vital system was rebuilt or replaced.   After the repairs, the old aircraft was reborn, under the gaze of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and technical assistance from Boeing, and the new ‘avatar’ jetliner emerged with the highest global safety standards.   The aircraft cleared all the rigorous checks, a successful test flight, earned the mandatory Airworthiness Review Certificate and then made its maiden commercial flight from Monday, March 16 – after a wait of six years.   Sturdy Fliers Created in 1946 to become an instant global icon, the Air India’s mascot Maharaja now sports a youthful and chic look, a welcome with folded hands, closed eyes, featuring a bejewelled turban, stylish jootis, and a textured kurta in Air India’s new colours. He is prominently visible at various touch-points in a flyer’s journey, such as First Class, exclusive lounges, and luxury products.   Today, he commands a mix fleet of around 190 narrow and wide-body Airbus and Boeing aircraft like : A319, A320, A320neo, A321, A321neo, A350-900 and B787-8, B787-9, B7770200LR, B-777-300ER. With the merger of Vistara and agreements signed for 10 A350 and 90 A320 aircraft, the Maharaja’s fleet is slated to soar to some 570 in the near future.

A Journey into Digital Compounding

Compounding is usually explained with money. Invest early, stay patient, and time does the rest. What is less discussed, but equally powerful, is how digital adoption compounds. Each new user, each new platform, each small behavioural shift quietly adds momentum. Over time, this momentum reshapes economies, lifestyles and investment landscapes. India today stands at the centre of this digital compounding story.  India today stands at the centre of this digital compounding story, fuelled by a massive base of over 900 million internet users.


At its simplest, digital compounding works like interest on interest. When a village gets internet access, it does not just connect one household. It creates demand for smartphones, digital payments, online education, telemedicine and logistics. Each layer feeds the next. What begins as connectivity slowly becomes productivity, and productivity turns into economic value. This is evident in the fact that India’s digital economy is growing more than twice the overall economy, promising to contribute 20pc of the GDP by 2026.


India’s digital journey offers a clear example. Two decades ago, the internet was largely urban, slow and expensive. Today, affordable smartphones and low-cost data have made India one of the world’s largest digital markets. The impact is visible in everyday life. A vegetable vendor accepting UPI payments, a farmer checking mandi prices on a phone, a retiree booking a train ticket without standing in line... These are small actions, but when repeated by hundreds of millions, they compound. As of July 2025, UPI processed over 19 billion transactions, a staggering leap from just a few million a few years ago.


The economic impact is significant. Digital platforms reduce friction. Payments that once took days now take seconds. Documentation that once needed physical presence is now digital via systems like DigiLocker, which hosts over 6 billion authentic documents. Businesses scale faster because customer acquisition costs fall and distribution becomes seamless. A small seller on an e-commerce platform can reach customers across states without opening a single shop. This efficiency raises productivity and expands the formal economy, bringing more transactions into measurable, taxable channels.


Compared with developed economies, India’s digital compounding has a different flavour. In the United States or Europe, digitalisation largely replaced existing systems. Credit cards replaced cash, online banking replaced branch visits. In India, digital tools often leapfrogged stages. Many first-time users moved directly from cash to UPI, from physical queues to apps. This hop accelerates compounding because adoption is faster and resistance is lower.  While it took decades for the US to reach high digital payment penetration, India achieved massive scale in less than seven years.


Generational contrasts make the story more vivid. Older generations remember life measured in files, forms and face-to-face visits. Trust was personal, time-consuming and local. For younger Indians, trust is increasingly digital. A QR code, an OTP, a rating, a verified profile.


For them, waiting feels inefficient, and digital convenience feels natural. Yet the transition is not a clash but a relay. Parents learn payments from children, while children inherit financial caution from parents.


Lifestyle changes mirror this shift. Entertainment moved from scheduled television to on-demand streaming, with India boasting over 600 million OTT users. Education moved from classrooms alone to blended learning. Healthcare moved from hospital-centric care to consultations over screens. These shifts save time, lower costs and expand access. The real compounding lies in how saved time gets reinvested. A commuter who saves an hour daily through digital services can use it to learn, earn or rest.


From an investment perspective, digital compounding deserves long-term attention. Digital businesses often show network effects. Costs grow slowly, while reach expands rapidly. This creates scalable models with durable advantages. In India, this spans fintech, digital infrastructure, e-commerce logistics, cloud services and data-driven platforms. Unlike traditional industries, growth here is not linear. It accelerates as adoption deepens.


Roads and railways compound economic activity by connecting people and markets. Digital infrastructure does the same, but faster and cheaper. Once built, it supports countless services without needing fresh physical expansion. This makes digital investments resemble planting an orchard rather than harvesting a single crop. Returns arrive over seasons, not overnight.


However, digital compounding is not without challenges. Cybersecurity risks, data privacy concerns, digital addiction and uneven access need constant attention. Developed economies face similar issues, but India’s scale magnifies both opportunity and risk. Regulation, digital literacy and ethical use will determine how healthy this compounding remains.


(The writer is a retired banker and author of ‘Money Does Matter.’)

Comments

bottom of page