The Hindu Business Line : Management integrator for AI, Indian merger mooted

Accenture, the consultants for the proposed merger of Air India and Indian, has suggested the appointment of a management integrator, who would primarily be responsible for driving the merger process to its natural conclusion.

Official sources told Business Line that the integrator could look at a variety of issues including manpower integration and harmonisation of the pay scales between the two state-owned carriers.

The proposal for appointing an integrator will be taken up only after an in-principle approval is received for the process to go forward, senior officials said.

The approval is expected after January 15 when the merger proposal is to be debated by the Group of Ministers (GoM) that is headed by the Minister for External Affairs, Mr Pranab Mukherjee.

The Committee of Secretaries, which has been examining the merger proposal, has given its approval for the process to move ahead. It has, however, suggested that the GoM look at certain issues including the name of the merged entity as also where the headquarters should be located.

Sources indicated that the proposal for appointing an integrator would not be taken up at the next GoM meeting.

"The appointment of an integrator is a new position that will exist only till the integration process is completed. At the moment, there is no word on who would be appointed or whether the person would be from the two airlines or an outsider. The idea for such a position is one of the lessons learnt from the recent mega-mergers of global airlines including Air France and KLM," sources said.

The proposed merger would create a global airline that would have a combined fleet of more than 100 aircraft and therefore be in a better position to take on global competition.

The merger is also expected to help both the state-owned airlines regain market share for international air traffic into and out of India, that they have steadily been losing during the last few years.

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Air India, Indian merger may be delayed

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