Privatisation of Air India in full swing: Process of inviting financial bids for sale initiated by government
The airline which did not attract any buyer for long, now has witnessed Tata Sons and SpiceJet's promoter Ajay Singh come up as potential bidders, the sale of which is likely to be completed by September this year.
The government has initiated the process for inviting financial bids for the sale of national carrier Air India and the deal is likely to conclude by September, where Tata Sons and Ajay Singh, the the promoter of SpiceJet, seem to be the most interested bidders.
The government plans to sell 100 per cent of its equity share capital in the state-owned airline, Air India has been in LOSSES ever since its merger with domestic operator Indian Airlines in 2007.
The government has poured more than Rs 40,000 crore: Rs 24,745 crore as equity support since 2011-12 alone, as per the turnaround plan of 2011-12, which promised a total infusion of Rs 30,231 crore over 10 years.
Its debt totals over Rs 40,000 crore. The Comptroller and Auditor General finds that the state-owned airline lost over Rs 6,000 crore since 2012-13.
Ever since the NDA government came to power in the centre, Air India has been profitable, but just over the line. In fact, it first earned a net profit in 2015-16.
Last month, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the government will keep Air India running till it gets divested and there is no choice but to either “privatise or close” the debt-laden airline.
“We run a loss of ₹20 crore every day despite Air India making money now. Because the mismanagement has resulted in a cumulative debt of ₹60,000 crore,” Puri had said in March.
Back in February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong case for privatisation of Public Sector Units that he said burdened the taxpayer, and stressed that the government has “no business to be in business”.
