After Air India stake sale flops, Modi govt plan back to the drawing board

The failure is a setback to Modi's reformist image ahead of national elections due next year

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will review plans to sell Air India after his administration’s most high-profile privatisation offer ended in a whimper with no buyers showing interest in the unprofitable flag carrier.

The government will make changes to the plan, if needed, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said. As the deadline to show preliminary interest expired Thursday, no bidder came forward to propose purchasing 76 per cent of Air India Ltd., which was offered along with $5 billion debt, Aviation Secretary R N Choubey told reporters in New Delhi. The process for the next steps will start in two