India’s tea-to-steel conglomerate Tata Group on Wednesday confirmed that it has submitted a bid to buy debt-crippled national carrier Air India Ltd, which it owned decades ago before the airline was nationalized.
The Indian government has sought to sell its entire stake in the ailing company, setting a deadline for bids for Wednesday after failing previously to secure any interest for a majority share.
“We have put in a bid,” a Tata Group spokesperson said, without giving any further details.
Tata already has investments in airlines AirAsia India Ltd and Vistara.
Ajay Singh, the founder of Indian budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd, also submitted a bid in a personal capacity, the Times of India reported.
SpiceJet did not respond to a request for comment.
Indian Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey confirmed that bids had been received.
“Process now moves to concluding stage,” he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
Tata Group in 1932 pioneered commercial air travel in India with Tata Airlines Ltd.
Once known affectionately as the “Maharaja of the Skies,” the airline was later taken over by the government and rebranded Air India.
However, it has been hemorrhaging money for more than a decade, incurring billions of US dollars in debt and losing market share to low-cost rivals in one of the world’s fastest-growing, but highly competitive, airline markets.
Apart from Air India, the government also plans to raise billions of US dollars through the privatization of Bharat Petroleum Corp and a share sale of a major insurer.
Last month, New Delhi said that it was seeking to lease state-owned assets to the private sector to raise 6 trillion rupees (US$81.7 billion) to repair public finances battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and fund new infrastructure.
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