Lagatar24 Desk
Air India now belongs to Tata Group. The government has accepted the bid of Tata Sons. The government had floated a tender to sell the entire 100% stake in it. The government will also sell a 50% stake in a ground handling company(AISATS).
The committee that has been formed for Air India includes Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
According to sources, the reserve price of Air India was likely to be in the range of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore. Tata Group had bid more than SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh. In this way Air India has returned home after almost 68 years. The last date for bidding for Air India was September 15. Since then it was speculated that the Tata Group might buy Air India.
“ The process of transfer will start with the SPA and the target is to completely hand over the airline to the new owners in around four months of time”, a ministry official said.
The government had invited bids in 2018 to sell 76% stake. However, at that time the government had talked about keeping management control with itself. When no one showed interest in it, the government decided to sell it 100% with management control. This stake sale process began in January 2020 only but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Notably Air India has been in losses ever since its merger with domestic operator Indian Airlines in 2007.
