The six entities made a presentation on Wednesday to the management committee appointed for this purpose and the airline is likely to announce its final selection soon and issue the mandate by next month, A-I sources said in Mumbai.

The airline had received as many as 15 bids from which six -- SBI Caps, HSBC Securities, DSP Merrill Lynch, J M Morgan Stanley, Kotak Mahindra Capital and Enam Consultants jointly with Citibank -- were shortlisted for appointment as an advisor to lay the roadmap for the IPO, which is expected to hit the market by December.

A four member high-powered committee was set up to go through the bids and give its recommendations on the appointment of the advisor, which would be placed before the board, they said.

After exhausting all options of disinvestments and equity infusion by the Union government, Air-India had set the ball rolling for its IPO, when the board gave its nod more than two months ago.

Going by the debt-equity norms, it would be ideal for A-I to raise Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) by way of equity maintaining a debt equity ratio of 2:1, which is supposed to be a benchmark in the capital intensive industry, merchant banking sources said.