AirAsia Berhad CEO Tony Fernandes applies for Overseas Citizen of India status
Tony Fernandes, the global CEO of AirAsia Berhad, on Wednesday said he has applied for Overseas Citizen of India status last week.
“I am told that it is the same as a Non Resident Indian (NRI) status…then I will be the same as everyone else,” he said in Hyderabad at the ongoing airshow, referring to similar NRI shareholders in Indian carriers such as Jet Airways and IndiGo.
Fernandes is a Malysian national. He said his father was of Indian origin.
Fernandes was answering a query on accusations that AirAsia India, the Malaysian budget carrier’s joint venture with Tata Sons and private investor Arun Bhatia, is actually remote controlled from overseas.
Carriers such as Go Air, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Jet Airways under lobbying body Federation of Indian Airlines have been up in arms against AirAsia filing court cases and representations to various sections of the government.
“I find the foreign ownership thing funny. Naresh Goyal lives in London and is an NRI, SpiceJet used to be owner by Americans, IndiGo has tons of American shareholders….I am told Go Air lives in Turkey on a boat. So they are all NRIs.”
Introduced in August 2005, the Overseas citizenship of India (OCI) scheme was launched during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention at Hyderabad in 2006.
OCI cards are given to people who have taken citizenship in other countries but have Indian origin roots. The same also holds for spouses of Indian citizen or persons of Indian origin.
OCI therefore, is not an actual citizenship of India and thus, does not amount to dual citizenship or dual nationality. The OCI card is not a substitute for an Indian visa and therefore, the passport which displays the lifetime visa must be carried by OCI holders while traveling to India.
Fernandes said AirAsia India CEO Mittu Chandilya’s contract will be over shortly but maintained he is not leaving yet. Sources have said Chandilya is leaving by end of March. Fernandes said however that the airline will get a new finance and commerce chief. Ankur Khanna, Air France’s Singapore-based regional head of finance is a front runner for the post of AirAsia India CFO a person close to the know said.
