Minister says no sale of Air India, retracts

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Puri on Thursday said the much-awaited disinvestment of Air India was put on hold due to adverse economic conditions but made a U-turn within hours saying the sale was on track.

In an embarrassing turn of events, it appeared that ministry had informed parliament about shelving Air India disinvestment based on the last year's information and Puri rushed to clarify the situation.

“In an AISAM Meeting held in March 2018, which is last year, it was decided that due to issues like volatile crude oil prices and adverse fluctuations in exchange rates, the atmosphere was not conducive for the disinvestment. But this was last year” Puri said in a tweet.

Earlier in the day, the minister in a reply to a written question in the Lok Sabha had said that due to in-conducive global atmosphere, the government was not rushing through the sale of Air India.

“In view of volatile crude oil prices and adverse fluctuations in exchange rates, the present environment is not conducive to stimulate interest amongst investors for strategic disinvestment of Air India in immediate near future,” Puri had said in his reply.

“The issue would be revisited once global economic indicators including oil prices and forex conditions stabilize,” he had said, adding the government, in the meanwhile, has prepared a revival plan for Air India which includes a comprehensive financial package.

In the evening the statement changed into, “as per the recommendations of AISAM, the govt will now go ahead with the process of disinvestment of the company.

The Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism or AISAM is a group of ministers and sources separately said that it may be looking into a 100% sale of Air India. This is because the bidders showed lack of interest in the company when it went up for sale of 76% government stake last year.

Last year, the Centre had invited Expression of Interest for strategic disinvestment of Air India, including its shareholding in Air India Express and Air India Air Transport Services Limited. However, it did not receive any bid till the last date on May 31, 2018.

The total debt on Air India as on March 31 id Rs 58,352 crore. The government has invested Rs 17,320 crore on Air India since 2015.