Prospective AI bidders raise queries

New Delhi, April 26

Prospective bidders for Air India have raised various queries in regard to the disinvestment of the debt-ridden airline Civil Aviation Secretary RN Choubey said here on Thursday.

Choubey said a number of parties had come forward for the bidding and shown interest in the Air India privatisation process, while also raising significant and important questions as regards disinvestment and the government will reply to them. The queries are interesting in nature, he added.

“The only thing I will say is that we have got interesting queries which show parties concerned have applied their mind and raised significant and important issues. We are going to reply to them,” the Civil Aviation Secretary said.

The government has remained tight-lipped about the prospective bidders and has not made any official statement about the number of queries received so far. Sources in know of the disinvestment process said everything was tightly wrapped.

As per the bid document, bidders would be required to have a minimum net worth of Rs 5,000 crore and should have posted profit after tax in three of the previous five financial years from the Expression of Interest deadline. The last date for submission of the bids is May 14.

Last week, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Secretary Neeraj Gupta had said there had been good response from various entities in the airline industry as well as the corporate for buying stakes in the debt-ridden national carrier.

The government had last month floated a preliminary information memorandum inviting bidders to buy 76 per cent stake in loss-making Air India along with transfer of management control.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu said aircraft and aviation equipment manufacturing under the Make in India programme and safety and security in the sector would be one of his top priorities. He was chairing a meeting of airline industry stakeholders, including airline CMDs, airport directors and others who involved in airport operations, on issues like passenger service, security, PPP, infrastructure, connectivity. — TNS

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