Centre's plan to club unviable airports unlikely to enthuse investors

Airport monetisation is a crucial component of the Centre's aggressive asset monetisation plan unveiled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget for 2021-22

The Centre’s plan to club loss-making remote airports with a profit-making one is unlikely to draw much interest from investors, said executives of infrastructure companies and private equity funds.

They said the size of airports that are being privatised is small, which means investor interest will be limited. Clubbing such airports with “unviable” ones will make it even more unattractive. “Private equity investors want up and running assets that they can run efficiently and get returns on. They are not in the business of developing assets,” said a manager of a private equity fund, which has invested in infrastructure assets