Govt may further sweeten Air India offer
The government may ease some of the conditions for potential bidders of Air India in a renewed effort to privatize the loss-making national carrier, which is crucial to achieving its ambitious divestment goal for this fiscal.
The revised bidding document for the airline, which is expected by this month-end, could either allow potential bidders to value Air India purely on its assets or substantially reduce the ₹23,286 crore debt currently required to be absorbed by a successful bidder.
“At present, the debt offered is nearly equal to the value of Air India’s assets. So the bidding is supposed to take place over and above ₹23,286 crore. But now the transaction adviser EY India has said that because of covid-19, the assets, especially the aircraft which are sitting idle, have lost their value and have become a burden on the company. So, EY India has asked not to assign any value to the assets, allowing the bidding process to discover its true value,” a government official said on condition of anonymity.
