India orders airlines to inspect Boeing fuel switches after Air India crash
India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday said it asked the airlines to investigate fuel switch locks on several Boeing models, including 787s and 737s.
The precautionary moves by India and several other countries came despite the plane maker and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) telling airlines and regulators in recent days that the fuel switch locks on Boeing jets were safe.
The locks have come under scrutiny following the June 12 crash of an Air India jet, which killed some 260 people – the worst such disaster on Indian soil.
A preliminary report on the crash by Indian authorities did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the disaster, but indicated that one pilot asked the other why he cut off fuel, and the second pilot responded that he had not.
The report noted a 2018 advisory from the FAA, which recommended, but did not mandate, operators of several Boeing models, including the 787, to inspect the locking feature of fuel cutoff switches to ensure they could not be moved accidentally.
In recent days, the Air India Group started checking the locking mechanism on the fuel switches of its 787 and 737 fleets and has discovered no problems yet, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency on Monday.
About half the group's 787s have been inspected and nearly all its 737s, the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity since the source was not authorised to speak to the media. Inspections were set to be completed in the next day or two.
Precautionary checks
The Air India crash preliminary report said the airline had not carried out the FAA's suggested inspections, as the FAA's 2018 advisory was not a mandate.
But it also said maintenance records showed that the throttle control module, which includes the fuel switches, was replaced in 2019 and 2023 on the plane involved in the crash.
In an internal memo on Monday, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out.
Some airlines around the world have been checking relevant switches since the 2018 advisory, including Australia's Qantas Airways and Japan's ANA.
Others said they had been making additional or new checks since the release of the preliminary report into the Air India crash.
Singapore Airlines said on Tuesday that precautionary checks on the fuel switches of its 787 fleet, including planes used by its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, confirmed all were functioning properly.
Flag carrier Korean Air Lines also said on Tuesday it had proactively begun inspecting fuel control switches and would implement any additional requirements the Ministry of Transport may have.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was headed to London from Ahmedabad in western India when it crashed, killing all but one of the people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.
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Al Jazeera
2 days ago
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Tesla finally parks in India. But can it survive the tariff war?
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Tesla is coming to India as its EV sales plunge in global markets, and as the company bets on its revised Model Y to turn its fortunes around. In its home market, the US, sales continued to fall in the second quarter of 2025 by 6.3 percent, marking Tesla's third straight quarterly drop in year-over-year domestic sales. Facing protests against Musk's politics and earlier involvement with the Trump administration, sales have fallen for five straight months in Europe. With some consumers switching to cheaper Chinese EVs, Tesla's market share has dropped to just 1.2 percent in May from 1.8 percent a year ago. In China, Tesla's second-biggest market, the Q2 deliveries fell by nearly 12 percent. 'Tesla has been facing tough times globally, so the company also desperately wants new markets, and India, being the world's third-largest market, is a great opportunity for them to make up for some loss,' said Gupta of S&P Global Mobility. 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Al Jazeera
2 days ago
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India's ban on Jane Street raises concerns over regulator role
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As the Indian market rapidly grew to handle more than half of all global options trades, retail investors entered the market too. Questions of price manipulation have dogged this rapid rise but remained vacuous until a New York court case in April 2024, where Jane Street alleged that its rival, Millennium Partners, had stolen its algorithms that helped it make in the Indian options market. A whistleblower, Mayank Bansal, then made presentations to SEBI showing Jane Street's trading patterns. Bansal had agreed to speak to Al Jazeera about his interaction with SEBI on the matter, but then backtracked. On July 3, in a detailed interim order, the regulator said that 'by preponderance of probability, there is no economic rationale that can account for this sudden burst of large and aggressive activity … other than the intent to manipulate the price of securities and index benchmark'. SEBI has alleged that Jane Street accumulated large long positions in stocks that are a part of the NSE's Bank Index and built large short positions in index options at the start of trade. Around market closing time, it would reverse its trades in the cash and futures segments, pushing down the index and earning large profits in the options segment. This activity was blurred by its offshore entities making some of these trades. 'Lawyers [can] push back with SEBI on jurisdiction-related issues, but when underlying [Indian] securities are issued, SEBI can take action,' Joby Mathew, managing partner at the law firm Joby Mathew and Associates and a former legal officer at SEBI, told Al Jazeera. Jane Street has disputed SEBI's findings and has hired lawyers to represent it before SEBI in the case. It has deposited the 48.43 billion rupees ($563m) of allegedly ill-gotten gains in an account pending the investigation and final report. 'Such processes typically take eight to 24 months,' especially in 'complex manipulation cases', Sumit Agarwal, a former SEBI officer and cofounder of Regstreet Law Advisors, told Al Jazeera in an emailed response. But the investigation can only be part of a broader questioning of Jane Street and the regulator's role in identifying and curbing such trades sooner and protecting retail investors. 'Highly speculative and volatile' As India's options market grew, retail investors were drawn to it, enticed by the growing volumes, the prospect of quick gains and less fettered trades than the equities market, where a rapidly rising stock could hit circuit breakers, leading to a halt in trading to prevent manipulation. Mathew says his clients from the options trading segment range from students to award-winning cardiologists who may not have a refined knowledge of the market but were sold on the idea by traders or social media influencers. Most ended up losing money. Deven Choksey, managing director at the Mumbai-based stock brokerage KR Choksey Shares and Securities, says retail investors form nearly half the Indian options market, while Jane Street and other sophisticated institutions form a little more. 'It's like a bullock cart facing a race car. Their meeting is bound to cause accidents.' If Jane Street is found to have manipulated the market, its earnings would have come through losses for retail investors. Bhargavi Zaveri, a financial regulations researcher formerly at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and currently a doctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore, says retail investors have made losses in the options segment, but the total amount is not clear. Identifying and compensating investors can be hard in such cases. So even if the final order goes against Jane Street and the 48.43 billion rupees fine goes into an investor protection fund, it may be hard to distribute it onwards to retail investors who incurred losses. The best protection may be to stem irregular trades early, experts say. 'SEBI has a surveillance system and they can well monitor the markets in a timely way.,' says Choksey. SEBI's interim order is based on trades made by Jane Street between January 1, 2023 and March 31, 2025, a period in which retail investors may have incurred substantial losses, going by SEBI's estimates. Regstreet's Agarwal says, 'SEBI's own 2024 consultations flagged expiry day options as highly speculative and volatile.' India has fortnightly expiry dates for options, which is when they have to be settled. That is when Jane Street allegedly manipulated prices. In a February 6 letter, SEBI told Jane Street, 'The above trading activity prima facie appears to be fraudulent and manipulative.' But it did not issue its order curbing Jane Street until July 3. SEBI's recent measures limiting weekly expiries, tightening spreads and higher margins 'reflect a push for greater protection' for retail investors, Agarwal says. But the best way to protect retail investors would be to have them trade separately from proprietary trading firms in the options segment, Choksey points out. 'India is unique … and in no market will you see so many retail investors. So, SEBI must create product differentiation by customer segment.' to protect retail investors Chiksey says. Challenges in proving manipulation In an internal email, Jane Street reportedly told employees it was using 'basic index arbitrage trading' and called SEBI's allegations 'extremely inflammatory'. It has hired Mumbai-based law firm, Khaitan and Co, to represent it before SEBI. Proving price manipulation involves showing intent, which can be hard, and experts are divided on whether a SEBI investigation will be able to demonstrate that. 'Trading to incur losses makes no sense, and so it indicates manipulation,' says Mathew, the former legal officer. But NUS's Zaveri says it is not so clear. 'I think three problems are being conflated here. One, the size of the options segment being manifold the underlying cash segment. Two, that retail investors have made losses on the options segment, which I'm not sure have been quantified. Three, Jane Street arbitraged between an illiquid cash and highly liquid options segment.' According to her, the three occurrences may not prove the intent to manipulate. Under Indian law, proving manipulation is challenging and 'Jane Street can argue its expiry day trades were legitimate index arbitrage recognised by regulators, making a manipulation finding difficult without clear intent evidence,' Regstreet's Agarwal says. Any action by SEBI could affect Jane Street's reputation. Last month, an investigation by Bloomberg found that Jane Street cofounder Robert Granieri was duped into funding weapons for an attempted coup to overthrow the government in South Sudan. If SEBI's final order lays out any action against Jane Street, 'they may well have to disclose it in their filings, which will affect them elsewhere in the world', says Mathew.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Contrary to India's fears, Bangladesh is not joining a China-Pakistan axis
On July 8, Indian Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan delivered a pointed message at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, raising alarms over a budding alignment of strategic interests between China, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The general cautioned that such a trilateral convergence, if it gains traction, could have serious implications for India's security and disrupt the regional balance of power. His remarks came in the wake of a widely circulated photograph from Kunming, China, showing diplomats from the three nations meeting during the inaugural trilateral talks held alongside regional economic forums. While the meeting was officially billed as a diplomatic engagement, the image has sent ripples through India's strategic community. Bangladesh, clearly aware of the sensitivities involved, has moved swiftly to contain the narrative. Touhid Hossain, foreign affairs adviser to Dhaka's interim government, publicly disavowed any intention of joining bloc-based or adversarial alliances. Dhaka reiterated that its foreign policy remains firmly nonaligned and anchored in sovereign autonomy. Despite these assurances, New Delhi's strategic calculus appears to be shifting. There is now a growing perception in New Delhi that, under the interim leadership of Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh may be recalibrating its foreign policy, moving away from the overt closeness seen under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Under Hasina, India and Bangladesh enjoyed unusually warm ties characterised by deep security cooperation, cross-border connectivity projects and shared regional objectives. Dhaka took strong action against anti-India insurgents, gave India access to transit routes through Bangladeshi territory and generally aligned itself with New Delhi's strategic priorities. Whether real or perceived, this shift is influencing how India reads the regional landscape. Chauhan also drew attention to a broader, troubling pattern: External powers – chiefly China – are leveraging economic fragilities across the Indian Ocean region to deepen their influence. With countries such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan increasingly beholden to Chinese investment and aid, concerns are mounting that Beijing is systematically encircling India through soft-power entrenchment. Bangladesh's case, however, remains somewhat unique. Its economy, though under pressure, is relatively resilient, and Dhaka continues to emphasise pragmatic, interest-driven diplomacy over ideological alignment. The Kunming meeting, while symbolically charged, does not yet represent a formal strategic realignment. Still, the formation of a trilateral framework marks a significant development. Unlike previous bilateral engagements, this format introduces a new dimension of coordination that could evolve in unpredictable ways. The echoes of history are hard to ignore. In the 1960s, China and Pakistan maintained a tight strategic axis that tacitly encompassed East Pakistan – what is now Bangladesh. That configuration unravelled in 1971 with Bangladesh's independence. Today, however, subtle signs suggest elements of that strategic triad may be resurfacing – this time in a more complex geopolitical theatre. For Beijing, deepening ties with both Pakistan and Bangladesh serves its broader objective of consolidating influence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. For Islamabad, it provides a layer of diplomatic insulation and strategic leverage. For Dhaka, the relationship is more tactical – an attempt to hedge against regional volatility at a time when its once-stable ties with New Delhi appear increasingly uncertain. Bangladesh's cautious posture is also shaped by volatile domestic politics. Since the July protests and the installation of an interim administration, internal cohesion has frayed. Polarisation is resurging, and with national elections looming in early 2026, the government's priority is stability, not strategy. Foreign policy in this climate is reactive – not transformative. Dhaka understands the risks of leaning too far in any direction. Lingering historical resentments with Pakistan remain politically sensitive while an overreliance on China would strain crucial trade and diplomatic ties with the West, especially the United States, where concerns over democratic backsliding and human rights have sharpened. In this context, any overt strategic alignment could invite unnecessary scrutiny and backlash. The Kunming meeting, despite its symbolism, was primarily economic in focus – touching on trade, connectivity, infrastructure and cultural cooperation. However, when China and Pakistan floated the proposal to institutionalise trilateral cooperation through a joint working group, Bangladesh demurred. This was not indecision. It was a deliberate, calculated refusal. Dhaka's foreign policy has long been defined by 'engagement without entanglement'. It maintains open channels with all major powers while avoiding the traps of bloc politics. This nonaligned posture is a core principle guiding its diplomacy. Bangladesh welcomes dialogue and economic cooperation, but it draws a firm line at military or strategic alignment. For India, interpreting Bangladesh's moves requires nuance. While Dhaka continues to broaden its international partnerships, it has not abandoned its critical role in India's security calculus, particularly in the northeastern region. The challenge for New Delhi is not just to monitor emerging partnerships but to reinforce the value of its own. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, security cooperation between New Delhi and Dhaka under Hasina's Awami League was pivotal in stabilising the border region. Bangladesh's decisive crackdown on militant groups, coupled with close coordination with Indian intelligence and security agencies, played a crucial role in suppressing insurgent threats. Today, with India's ties to both China and Pakistan under severe strain, any perceived shift in Dhaka's stance is scrutinised intensely in New Delhi. The fear that Beijing and Islamabad might exploit Bangladesh as a strategic lever to apply asymmetric pressure remains deeply ingrained in India's security mindset. Yet, Bangladesh's explicit rejection of the proposed trilateral working group reveals a clear-eyed understanding of these sensitivities. It underscores Dhaka's intent to steer clear of actions that could escalate regional tensions. This evolving dynamic poses a dual challenge for India: It demands a recalibrated response that moves beyond reactive defensiveness. New Delhi must embrace a more sophisticated, forward-looking strategy – one that transcends old political loyalties and adapts to the shifting diplomatic contours of South Asia. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
