State-owned Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s biggest container gateway, has placed a more than Rs 1,000-crore bid to buy debt-ridden Air India’s iconic 23-storey tower located at Mumbai’s Marine Drive in Nariman Point, facing the Arabian Sea.
JNPT’s bid was higher than that of state-run insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the only other bidder to participate in the auction, a top government official said, asking not to be named, because the bid results have not been made public yet.
The bid, though, is yet to be finalised because JNPT’s price quotation is below the reserve price set by the cash-strapped national carrier, and the transaction needs a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the Maharashtra government, which had leased the land for the tower many years ago.
