Centre for 100% stake sale in Air India, says Puri

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 29

Noting that the government has learnt lessons from its past experiences, Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri today said the government would divest its ‘100 per cent’ stake in Air India. The Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Home Minister Amit Shah will hold its first meeting “in a few days”, he said.

Hinting that the government readying itself to dilute terms and conditions for divesting its stake in the national career after failing in its first attempt, the minister said the new Expression of Interest (EoI), which will be issued soon, would be able to generate a lot of interest among investors.

As he announced that the meeting of GoM on Air India disinvestment “will be held in a few days”, sources in the ministry said the process would pick up pace soon and claimed that the new EoI might be out by October.

“The government’s determination to privatise AI is a given, it’s undiluted. It should be a total privatisation. We have to get the best possible deal in the shortest time possible,” the minister said, adding that the government should not be running an airline.

Last year, the government’s attempt to sell its stake in Air India didn’t elicit any response from the private sector, primarily due to the airline’s debt size of over Rs50,000 crore and the government’s offer to sell only 76 per cent of its stake.

Sources said after the failed disinvestment attempt in May 2018, the Centre is now planning to dilute the terms and conditions for the sale. At least 95 per cent stake of Air India will be up for sale, while retaining 5 per cent for the employee stock option.

The government in February approved setting up of a special purpose vehicle, Air India Assets Holding Company, to transfer Rs 29,464-crore loans of the national carrier and its four subsidiaries.

AI to ban single-use plastic on flights

Air India Chairman Ashwani Lohani said the airline will stop using single-use plastic and replace packaging with eco-friendly paper and wooden cutlery. “From October 2, we are going to completely ban the use of plastics in Air India and the low-cost subsidiary Air India Express,” he said. TNS