Government to sell subsidiaries of Air India: Process of selling AIASL and AIESL started, last year Tata Group bought Air India for 18,000 crores.
After Air India, now the government has started the process of selling two more companies associated with it. These two companies are Air India’s subsidiary Air India Airport Services Limited (AIASL) and Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL). An official has given this information.
“The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has initiated meetings and road shows to ascertain the interest of investors in AIASL and AIESL. We will soon invite EOIs from interested bidders,” the official said.
Government sold Air India to Tata Group for 18,000 crores
The debt-ridden Air India was sold by the government to the Tata Group in October last year for Rs 18,000 crore. After this Air India was completely handed over to the Tata Group on 27 January 2022.
However, Air India has 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 several non-core assets in this sector. was not part of the deal.
These subsidiaries and non-core assets worth about Rs 15,000 crore were transferred to an SPV- Air India Assets Holding Limited (AIAHL). The government had then said that these subsidiaries and non-core assets would be sold later. Towards that goal, DIPAM organized investor meetings for the privatization of AIASL and AIESL.
Government to raise Rs 65,000 crore through disinvestment
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% 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 CPSE disinvestment in the current financial year. So far it has raised around Rs 25,000 crore.
