Comments
The employees’ union of Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd (PHHL) has shown an interest in participating in the ongoing divestment of the state-owned helicopter operator, a senior official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Wednesday.
“This (employees’ interest) has seen the last date for submission of expression of interest being extended till December 15 from December 8, which was the earlier cut-off date,” the official said.
The union will enjoy certain relaxations in participating in the bidding process. For instance, it’s enough for them to show they own just 10 per cent of the net worth of the company formed to bid for PHHL. The remaining stake can be owned by banks and financial institutions, the official said, adding that in case the employees’ bid is short-listed from among the successful bidders, they will also be allowed to match the bid put in by the highest bidder as long as certain conditions are met.
Meanwhile, the government has decided that the heliport in Rohini, on the outskirts of Delhi, will not be part of the bidding process though it is owned by PHHL. “The heliport has been hived off into a separate company,” the official said.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had given its in-principle approval for the divestment of PHHL in October last year. The Centre holds a 51 per cent stake in PHHL while Oil and Natural Gas Corporation owns the balance stake.
The divestment of PHHL is likely to see a lot of global interest for a variety of reasons, including the low per capita penetration of helicopters in India — one helicopter for every 47 lakh people — which is a huge opportunity waiting to be tapped. Besides, the Directorate Generation of Civil Aviation is also looking at liberalising operating rules for helicopters.
PHHL has contracts, all won through competitive bidding, which will run for the next three-five years. The contracts vary from providing machines to various State governments to ferrying people and essentials. Whoever invests in the company, therefore, does not need to start from scratch to build it up. An enterprising buyer can also look at many ways of using the 43 helicopters that PHHL has.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.