An official said the government has started the process of privatization of two subsidiaries of former national carrier Air India – AIASL and AIESL. “The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has initiated investor meetings and road shows to gauge the interest in AIASL and AIESL. We will soon invite EOIs from interested bidders,” said the official.
Debt-ridden Air India was sold to the Tata group in October last year for Rs 18,000 crore. The actual handover to Tata took place on January 27, 2022. However, Air India’s four subsidiaries – Air India Airport Services Limited (AIASL), Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL), Alliance Air Aviation Limited (AAAL), and Hotel Corporation of India Limited (HCI) – and other non-core Properties, paintings and artefacts, moreover, non-operating assets were not part of the deal.
These subsidiaries and non-core assets worth around Rs 15,000 crore have been transferred to an SPV – Air India Assets Holding Limited (AIAHL). The government then said that these subsidiaries and the carrier’s non-core assets would eventually be sold. Towards that goal, DIPAM has started the exercise of investor meetings for the privatization of AIASL and AIESL.
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As of August last year, Air India had a total debt of Rs 61,562 crore. Of this, the Tata group took over the liability of Rs 15,300 crore and the remaining 75 per cent, or about Rs 46,000 crore, was transferred to AIAHL. The government has cleared its share of the dues with the debtors of Air India. The government has budgeted to raise Rs 65,000 crore from disinvestment of CPSEs in the current financial year. So far it has raised around Rs 25,000 crore.
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