Air India divestment process: Bids completed, govt evaluating technical aspects, says Jyotiraditya Scindia

A day after the two entities, Tata Group and SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh in his personal capacity, put in the bid for Air India divestment, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said that the government is very optimistic about the divestment of Air India.

New Delhi: A day after the two entities, Tata Group and SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh in his personal capacity, put in the bid for Air India divestment, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said that the government is very optimistic about the divestment of Air India. "The bids have been completed. The government is evaluating the technical aspects for the bids received and we are very hopeful," said the Civil Aviation Minister on Thursday.

After the completion of the bidding process for the divestment of Air India, Jyotiraditya said they are now looking forward to taking the whole divestment process to its logical conclusion. The Secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) that falls under the Finance Ministry, on Wednesday said, "financial bids for Air India divestment were received by Transaction Adviser. The process now moves to concluding stage."

According to the sources, "the total debt on the airline has risen to around Rs 43,000 crore and the government will bear this debt before the airline is transferred to the new owners."

The government aims to complete the sales by December this year as divestment will be one major source of income to bridge the widening fiscal deficit. The government is selling its entire 100% stake in Air India, which has been in losses ever since its merger with domestic operator Indian airlines in 2007.

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