The government will start working on selling the ground-handling arm of erstwhile national carrier Air India and the Expression of Interest (EoI) is expected in the next fiscal, an official said.
"We already have the Cabinet approval for selling the subsidiaries of Air India.
"So we will come out with an EoI inviting bids for one of the ground-handling arms in the next fiscal," an official told PTI.
Currently, four Air India subsidiaries -- Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL), Airline Allied Services Ltd (AASL) or Alliance Air, Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) and Hotel Corporation of India Ltd (HCI) are with Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL), which is a special purpose vehicle set up in 2019 for holding non-core assets and debt of Air India.
The government had last month transferred the ownership of Air India to Tata Group, after the later emerged as the winning bidder for buying the loss-making carrier.
The official further said that it is also to be decided whether the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) for Air India privatisation or the Alternative Mechanism for CPSE divestment would be the decision-making ministerial panel for privatising these subsidiaries.
The AISAM is headed by the home minister and comprises the finance minister, commerce and industry minister and civil aviation minister.
The Alternative Mechanism of CPSE divestment comprises road transport and highways minister, finance minister and commerce and industry minister.
Separately, AIAHL also has over Rs 14,700 crore worth non-core assets like land and building of Air India which also has to be monetised.
These assets were transferred to AIAHL before the airline's privatisation.
Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
