Let Go Of Air India, NITI Aayog Tells Government

Government of India may just consider selling the national carrier Air India if it pays heed to the recommendations of NITI Aayog. The think tank has proposed the sale of the loss-making airline and diversion of allocated funds towards health and education.

NITI Aayog's report provides a detailed road map for strategic disinvestment of Air India. The plan includes writing off loans amounting to around Rs 30,000 crore, of a total debt of around Rs 60,000 crore. A decision on the same would be taken by the cabinet, reported the Times of India.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also supported stake sale in the bleeding carrier, whose accumulated losses amount to about Rs 40,000 crore with a projected cash deficit of Rs 3,000 crore for the current financial year. In which case, an operating profit of Rs 105 crore in 2015-16 isn’t any respite given that the annual interest burden is said to be around Rs 4,000 crore, and the government has already sunk Rs 25,000 crore to keep the airline afloat over the last five years.

As per the daily’s report, Aviation Minister A Gajapati Raju and his deputy Jayant Sinha have confirmed the submission of the report by the Aayog but didn’t disclose the details.