Air India Disinvestment: Deadline For Financial Bids Will Remain Sept 15, Says Jyotiraditya Scindia

The Centre had earlier in April begun the process of inviting financial bids for the debt-ridden airline.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia (File Pic)

New Delhi: With the Central government initiating the disinvestment process of national carrier Air India, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said the deadline for submission of financial bids will be September 15.

Scindia, who was talking to the media here, indicated that there will be no extension for submitting the bids, PTI reported.

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The Centre had earlier in April begun the process of inviting financial bids for the debt-ridden airline.

The government will be selling budget airline Air India Express and Air India's 50 percent stake in Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited (AISATS) besides offloading its entire stake in loss-making Air India.

The deadline for submission of Expressions of Interest (EoI) or preliminary bids was extended five times earlier before closing it in December last year.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation General (Retd.) V.K. Singh had earlier in July told the Lok Sabha that multiple EoIs were received and evaluated by the transaction advisor for the selection of Qualified Interested Bidders (QIBs).

The Centre had earlier in October last year announced that bidding for Air India would be on the basis of enterprise value, which includes the equity value, debt as well as cash with the company, instead of equity value that measures the value of a company's shares.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s efforts to divest the national carrier in 2018 failed to take off after it did not receive any bid when the deadline closed on May 31 the same year.

The proposal then was to sell 76 percent equity share capital of Air India as well as transfer to private players the management control.