Now Reading
Air India Will Be Shut Down if New Privatisation Plan Fails; Government to Wipe Debt to Lure Investors

Air India Will Be Shut Down if New Privatisation Plan Fails; Government to Wipe Debt to Lure Investors

Debt-Ridden State-Owned Airline Air India Could Be Put Up for Sale - At Least, that's the Plan

Over a year after an attempt to sell state-owned Air India miserably failed, the Indian government is once again trying to offload the debt-laden national carrier onto a private investor.  And this time, the country’s Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri said the perennially loss-making airline would be shut down if attempts to sell the carrier fail.

Last May, the incumbent Modi-government tried to sell a 76 per cent in Air India but didn’t manage to garner a single expression of interest from investors.  This time, the government is willing to sell its entire stake in the carrier and even wipe out $11 billion worth of debt to help seal a deal.

Modi is said to have revisited the idea of selling Air India as the country tries to narrow a widening deficit which has apparently been made worse by “dismal” tax collections.  The state has already decided to sell its stake in India’s biggest shipping company to boost its coffers.

Senior airline executives and government officials are said to be meeting with potential suitors before the official bid document is released in the next few weeks.  Puri told lawmakers that the government would ensure that a “favourable” deal for Air India employees would be worked out.


View Comments (0)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© 2023 paddleyourownkanoo.com All Rights Reserved.

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to paddleyourownkanoo.com with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.