Tata Sons acquires winning bid for Air India at Rs 18,000 crore: Government

By Team Newsable | First Published Oct 8, 2021, 4:27 PM IST

The bid got approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah on October 4, said Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

After a gap of 68 years, Tata Sons has emerged as the top bidder for the takeover of debt-laden state-run airline Air India at Rs 18,000 crore.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) on Friday announced debt-laden national carrier Air India returned to its founders Tata Sons, ending a decades-long struggle to offload the money-losing flag carrier.

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The bid got approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah on October 4, said Pandey.

The conglomerate, which outbid consortia led by SpiceJet founder Ajay Singh, emerged as the front-runner after outbidding other contenders on the reserve price fixed by a panel of government secretaries.

Meanwhile, Ratan Tata tweeted on Tata Sons winning the Air India bid. "Welcome back, Air India," tweeted Ratan Tata.

Welcome back, Air India 🛬🏠 pic.twitter.com/euIREDIzkV

— Ratan N. Tata (@RNTata2000)

Apart from 100% stake in Air India and its low-cost arm, Air India Express, the winning bid also includes a 50% stake in ground-handling company Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited (AISATS).

Process of the Air India sale began in July 2017 and the government received 7 expressions of interest by December 2020, the Finance Ministry's Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) announced on Friday.

Also read: RBI keeps monetary policy repo rate unchanged at 4%, reverse repo rate unchanged at 3.35%

The financial bids were evaluated against an undisclosed reserve price and the bid offering the highest price above that benchmark was accepted.

The stake sale process, which began in January 2020, faced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021, the government asked potential bidders to put in financial bids. September 15 was the last day for putting in financial bids.

The Tatas have a long history with the national carrier.

As per the Air India EoI floated by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) in January 2020, the government incurs losses nearly Rs 20 crore every day to run the national carrier, which has accumulated losses of over Rs 70,000 crore ($9.53 billion), officials have said.

The airline, which was formed by the Tatas as a mail carrier, was piloted and was the first flight inaugurated by Indian aviation in 1932.

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