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Disinvestment, yes, but Air India will be in Indian hands
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SME Times News Bureau | 11 Jul, 2019
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep
Singh Puri on Thursday said the government was committed to "strategic
disinvestment" of Air India due to "unsustainable debt burden" but
promised that the national carrier will remain with an Indian entity.
Responding
to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Puri also
said that though Air India was doing "extremely well", the debt burden
on the carrier was unsustainable.
He said the decision on Air
India's privatization was for the benefit of citizens and the government
will do its best to ensure that the company was purchased by an Indian
entity.
"It is not the government which has failed to attract the
passengers. Air India in fact is a first class asset. It has 125
planes. Half of them fly to 40 international directions and 80 to
domestic destinations. It is doing extremely well.
"The problem
is that it has taken an unsustainable debt burden. It is servicing of
that debt burden which is a problem," Puri said.
Replying to a
question from Congress member Manish Tewari, the Minister said:
"Previous attempts to disinvest the carrier could not succeed. But now
the government has learnt its lessons and a mechanism will ensure the
move (succeeds) this time...
"But the government wants the
airline to remain in Indian hands and the disinvestment mechanism will
take care of the details," Puri said.
The Minister also told the
Lower House that when the Pakistan airspace was closed following a
stand-off between the two countries, Air India had to spend an extra Rs
430 crore on longer routes.
Puri said it was only a "narrative" that the domestic civil aviation market was declining.
"In
fact it has seen a steady annual growth of 17 per cent. Contrary to
speculation, the number of flights haven't gone down either."
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