New Delhi, Business Desk. Air India has again fallen in the lap of Tata Sons. According to the Dipam Secretary, the GoM has accepted the bid of Tata Sons in the Air India disinvestment process. With this, Tata Air India has been able to join the group after 67 years. The airline will now go back from salt to software maker Tata Group.

In 1932, Tata Airlines was named

The Tata group formed Air India in October 1932 under the name Tata Airlines. After this the government nationalized the airline in 1953. 

Bids won in 18000 crores 

Dipam secretary Tuhin Kant Pandey said that Tata Sons had put an enterprise value of Rs 18000 crore. Two bidding groups had participated in this bid. 5 bidders were disqualified as their bids were not matching the prescribed criteria. Taking the bidders into confidence, the entire process was proceeded in a transparent manner.  

total number of employees

According to Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Air India has 12,085 employees, of which 8,084 are permanent employees and 4,001 are on contract. Apart from this, there are 1434 employees in Air India Express. If they are retrenched for one more year, then they will have to pay VRS. 

Talace Pvt will be the airline

Dipam Secretary informed that Tata Sons’ unit Talace Pvt Ltd has won this bid for Rs 18,000 crore. The deal is likely to be completed by December 2021. A panel of ministers was formed under the chairmanship of Home Minister Amit Shah to pass this bid. It was a tough competition between the two bidders. 

expert comment

Former Air India chairman Rohit Nandan said that this decision of the government is very good for the aviation industry. This deal will develop the entire aviation industry. 

Spicejet also bid

Let us tell you that Tata Sons and industrialist Ajay Singh had submitted financial bids for Air India in their individual capacity. SpiceJet promoter Singh along with a few other entities had made a joint bid for the airline.

share of disinvestment

During the budget speech for the financial year 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that all the proposed privatization process would be completed by the end of the financial year, including the strategic disinvestment of Air India. Earlier, some interested parties including Tata were shortlisted for the bidding round.

Air India Operations

Before the Covid pandemic struck, the airline operated over 50 domestic and over 40 international destinations on a standalone basis. In addition, it operated more than 120 aircraft before the Covid pandemic. During that period, the airline had over 9,000 permanent and 4,000 contract employees.