The Centre will invite bids to sell its 100 per cent in state-owned Air India in October itself, media reports said citing official sources, adding that the proposal is only awaiting clearance from a ministerial panel before it is made public. "The Expression of Interest (EOI) document for Air India will be put out anytime now, at least before the end of this month. The plan is to sell 100 per cent stake in the airline. The proposal needs clearance from a ministerial panel before it is made public," Livemint quoted a finance ministry official on condition of anonymity.
The report added that the Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Home minister Amit Shah, formed for the purpose of Air India divestment is also likely to meet soon to clear the privatisation process. The GoM also includes Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Puri and Railway and Trade minister Piyush Goyal. The panel had first met on September 19, indicating that the government has put the agenda of Air India divestment on the fast track. It was earlier reported that the Centre, which has been actively pursuing the process of Air India divestment, wanted to complete the sale of the state-owned airline by the end of the current financial year.
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It is learnt that the government will meet potential buyers before issuing the EOI. The Centre plans to have a meeting with the likes of Air Vistara stakeholder Tata Group and IndiGo's parent InterGlobe Aviation, in addition to other big Indian corporates from aviation space, to assess their interest in the beleagured Maharaja.
The Centre, which targets Rs 1.05 lakh crore through divestments in the current financial year, is keen on getting the right bidders for Air India this time as a similar attempt failed to take shape last year in a huge setback. A cash-strapped Centre is looking to receive Rs 60,000 crore from the sale of Air India. The sale would not only help the Union government exit a loss-making business, but would also compensate for the loss in revenue due to the corporate tax rate cut.
Debt-laden Air India has been surviving on a ₹30,000-crore government bailout and has ceded market share to private airlines such as IndiGo and SpiceJet. Air India, which has 128 planes, has seen its net debt rising to Rs 58,351.93 crore at the end of March from about Rs 55,000 crore a year ago.
