flag bearer of india Air India A step forward has been made in the direction of privatization. The central government will choose the winner in the disinvestment of Air India in about three weeks. The government is selling its 100 per cent stake in the state-owned airline which has been making loss since 2007. The government, as part of the exercise, is also planning to sell its entire stake and 50 per cent stake in Air India Express. Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd
India’s salt for software conglomerate, Tata The Group has submitted a financial bid for the sale of Air India Limited. This is the second attempt when the government is trying to sell the loss-making national carrier. The bid was made on Wednesday by Tata Sons Ltd, the holding company of the group, which controls Jaguar Land Rover and holds a majority stake in AirAsia India. As stated in several media reports, along with the Tata group, SpiceJet owner Ajay Singh has also bid for Air India.
After receiving the bids, DIPAM Secretary, Tuhin Pandey said on Twitter, “Financial Bids for Air India disinvestment received by the Transaction Advisor. The process has now moved to the final stage.” As per reports, two high-level committees will finalize the reserve price for the national carrier within this period.
Initially, to take over India’s national carrier, four bidders were in the fray, including Tata Sons, another consortium of some AI employees, and Interup and SpiceJet. Soon after, the list was further narrowed when one staff group dropped out of the race, and another was declared ineligible in March. Now only Tata Group and SpiceJet CEO Ajay Singh is in the race to take over India’s troubled national carrier Air India.
After receiving the bids, the Transaction Advisor will analyze the bids and then declare the owner of Air India. But according to experts, this process is not going to be completed in 3-4 months and once the owner of this airline is announced, the asset transfer is going to take more than 5-6 months.
Tata currently holds stake in two airlines- AirAsia India, which is a low-cost carrier and full-service carrier Vistara, Air India will return to its founders if Tata gets control of Air India. Tata founded Tata Airlines in 1932, which was later renamed Air India in 1946. The government took control of the airline in 1953 but JRD Tata remained its chairman until 1977.
Whoever helps the ailing airline will automatically get control of 4,400 domestic and 1,800 international landing and parking slots at domestic airports, as well as 900 slots at airports abroad. In addition, the bidder will also get 100 per cent of the low-cost Air India Express and 50 per cent of AISATS, which provides cargo and ground handling services at major Indian airports.
The government has expedited the process as the privatization of Air India is imminent for the last 2 years. Aiming to achieve the nearly ₹1.75 trillion disinvestment target announced by the government in the Union Budget for 2021-2020, the government is sticking to the timeline and said the privatization of the national carrier would be completed in FY22.
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