CGD meet on Air India divestment may be held on October 31

The core group of Secretaries on disinvestment (CGD) is likely to meet on October 31 where the Air India Expression of Interest (EoI) could be discussed.

The meeting was earlier scheduled for Monday. In the meanwhile, however, the Expenditure Secretary G.C. Murmu has been moved as Lt. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir after it became a Union Territory and a new Disinvestment Secretary T.K. Pandey has taken charge in his place.

As of now, Air India is the only item on the CGD meeting of October 31. But more items could be added later, according to official sources here who said that any change on date of the meeting could occur at the last minute depending on availability of officials and other emerging issues.

However, Air India would be discussed primarily whenever the meeting takes place, the sources added.

This will be the second meeting of the group during the month. Earlier this month, the CGD cleared the strategic sale of BPCL, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) BEML and Concor while the EoI for Air India was also discussed.

Stake sales in two power PSUs THDC India and Neepco were also approved. These could be taken over by state-run NTPC.

The official sources said the meeting could discuss moving towards the next step of the EoI draft for Air India. The cabinet has recently approved the new process for strategic disinvestment which allows stakeholder consultation before inviting bids.

So far, the strategic disinvestment process did not allow for stakeholder consultation before issuing EOIs.

There was no pre-bid consultation in the case of the first attempt at Air India's divestment. With that obstacle removed, the government will now get to know better the investor demand and concerns on specific stake sales, before formally inviting bids.

The core group of Secretaries has all the Finance Ministry secretaries and the Corporate Affairs as well as Law Secretaries.

After failing to find a bidder in its previous term, the Modi 2.0 government is working on war-footing to sell Air India to a private player. Air India has a total debt of about Rs 58,000 crore. The cumulative loss of the national carrier is to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore. In the last financial year ending March 31, the airline is estimated to have incurred a loss of Rs 7,600 crore.

( With inputs from IANS )