NEW DELHI: In what may come as a relief to the Government of India, the Tata Group is likely to make a formal bid for debt-laden national carrier Air India by the end of the month, according to reports. The government has been trying to divest its stake in the loss-making carrier since last year, with a new divestment process for the firm initiated on January 27.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has extended the deadline for the submission of initial bids a couple of times. In June, the Centre extended the deadline to submit an EoI (expression of interest) till August 31 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, as per a report published in a financial daily, the Tata Group has already started due diligence and could submit it close to the official deadline at the end of this month. At present, the Tata Group runs two airlines in India—the premium Vistara and budget carrier AirAsia India—in partnership with foreign carriers.
While there have been multiple reports that Tata may merge its stake in AirAsia and Air India into a single entity, the Group hasn’t confirm on the speculations yet. Tata is already said to have engaged top legal firms and consultants to seek their opinion before making a formal bid for Air India, but many experts believe the privatisation process could be time consuming.