Bidders want govt to sweeten Air India deal further

Debt burden of nearly $3 billion that a potential bidder for Air India will have to shoulder has emerged as a key hurdle in the divestment of the loss-making national carrier, two people aware of the matter said.

They said the requirement that a potential buyer absorb ₹23,286.5 crore of the carrier’s total debt of ₹60,074 crore, has made it difficult to sell the airline in its second attempt, after the initial failure in 2018.

“At that time too, the airline’s debt pile emerged as the primary worry for bidders following which the government decided to transfer around ₹40,000 crore of the debt to Air India Assets Holding Ltd, a special purpose vehicle created for this,” said the first person cited above.