Union Cabinet gives in-principle approval for Air India disinvestment

Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave in-principle approval for disinvestment of Air India. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while addressing the media said that the government will form a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into ways to divest Air India stake. 

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"Group will be set up to finalize modalities and details of disinvestment of Air India, such as extent etc," Jaitley said. 

On June 5, 2017 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government should have exited the airline more than a decade ago.

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The aviation ministry has also expressed concerns over privatisation proposals stating the plan for revival of Air India would be taken up by the cabinet only after various issues, including the concerns raised by the parent ministry, are resolved.

Sameer Dixit reports that Singapore Airlines and Tata Group have approached the aviation ministry with their proposal to buy Air India from the government.

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However, sources said that the Tata Group has raised some concerns regarding the Rs 55,000 crore debt of Air India.

Earlier, Niti Aayog headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi submitted a report recommending a stake sale in the airline. It had mentioned that the government needed to decide whether  it would write off all or part of Air India`s Rs 520 billion ($8 billion) in debts.