 "Air India sale: Investor outreach on, meeting potential bidders, says Puri")
Making forward movement on Air India disinvestment, the government is meeting potential investors to sell off almost its entire equity stake in the national carrier.
"Currently, the investor outreach programme is on. Air India CMD, Aviation Secretary and other concerned officials are meeting potential bidders," Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told IANS.
The minister said the first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) has met earlier and taken some decisions. He hinted that disinvestment exercise was very much on course and can happen soon. Asked if there were still hurdles such as FDI rules in the way of Air India disinvestment, the Minister said he was not aware of any.
The government has decided to almost completely exit the airline saying the financial support being provided to the airline could be put to better use such as building social infrastructure.
This will be the second attempt by the Modi government to disinvest Air India as it failed to get any bid from private parties during the initial stake sale process last year.