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India’s plan to sell a majority stake in debt-laden Air India received a setback as budget carrier IndiGo, the first to show interest, said it can’t buy the debt-laden national carrier under the plan worked out by the government.
“We do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turn around all of Air India’s operations,” Aditya Ghosh, president of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., parent of IndiGo, said in a statement on 5 April.
The government said it will sell 76 percent in the airline, along with 100 percent in its low-cost arm Air India Express and 50 percent in the ground handling unit. A potential buyer will have to take on more than half of the Rs 54,000 crore debt. The government plans to retain the remaining 24 percent in the airline.
(This was first published on BloombergQuint and has been republished in an arrangement.)
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