The Centre has announced on Friday that Mumbai-based conglomerate Tata Sons has won the bid for taking over the loss-making national carrier Air India. This has been one of the Centre’s most ambitious disinvestment projects.
The Tata Group placed a winning bid of Rs 18,000 crore. Along with the assets, the new owner will also take on around Rs 15,300 crore of debt, Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Tuhin Kanta Pandey said. The remaining Rs 2,700 crore will be paid to the government in cash.
The process is expected to be closed by December this year.
The airline was nationalised in 1953, taking over control from the Tata Group. As part of the NDA government’s mega privatisation plans, the win by Tata Sons would mean the government ceding 100% stake in the airline.
The scope of the sale includes 100% of the government’s stake in Air India and 100% of the airline’s shareholding in low-cost airline Air India Express Ltd and 50% in Air India SATS Airport Services Private Ltd.
The financial bids were placed last month and saw Tata Group outbidding SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh, who bid in his private capacity. The Ajay Singh consortium bid Rs 15,100 crore.
This was the Government of India’s third attempt at selling the national carrier after two unsuccessful trials in 2001 and 2018. After the second attempt, when not even a single bid was placed for the loss-making airline, the Centre brought Air India back to the table early last year with significant changes in parameters for the sale.
