| Speaking at the CII India Economic Summit, Patel said that employees would be offered 4-5 per cent equity in the form of employee stock options (ESOP). |
| "The carrier will broadbase its ownership through the IPO and ESOPs," said Patel. |
| "The equity structure of the company is very small. The company will have to infuse capital for enhancement and future operations." |
| Air-India currently has a fully paid-up equity of Rs 154 crore. The merged airline has a total of 34,000 employees. |
| When asked about increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in domestic carriers, Patel said,"Indian carriers needed to be given more time to strengthen themselves before foreign airlines could invest in them." |
| "Let our carriers scale up first to take on competition. I do not think that at this nascent stage our carriers should be soft targets for international carriers." |
| At present, there is a 49 per cent cap on FDI in the aviation sector and foreign airlines are not allowed to invest in Indian carriers. |
| Asked about when he thought the carriers would reach such a stage, Patel said that it would surely take a couple of years. |
| Speaking on rising ATF costs, Patel said that the mounting costs would severely affect the health of the sector and that high sales tax levied by state governments on ATF had to be curbed. |
| ATF prices recently rose 14 per cent, leading airlines to increase the fuel surcharge by Rs 300 per ticket. Sales tax for ATF levied by states can go beyond 30 per cent. |
| Talking about building logistic centers of excellence, Patel said that one of the large drawbacks of infrastructure projects was non-implementation of projects in time. |
| "There is a better way to implement these projects and that we should have lesser interministerial consultations. But now, for the first time we have a Committee of Infrastructure headed by the Prima Minister himself who looks into these projects. So a beginning has been made." |
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