Airports Authority plans to list within a year

Airports Authority of India expects to complete the process of corporatisation and getting listed on the stock exchanges within a year.

The authority is at present in the process of getting its assets valued, having appointed the Indian arm of consulting firm KPMG for valuation.

While KPMG in its preliminary estimates recently had pegged the value of its assets at Rs 20,000 crore, AAI feels that the valuation could be at least four times this, if its plans to monetise its huge land bank is taken into account.

“We are now putting together a business plan to monetise our assets, which we expect will scale up the valuation to at least about Rs 80,000 crore,” Mr V.P. Agrawal, AAI Chairman, told presspersons on the side lines of an aviation meet here on Friday.

The Authority is estimated to have a land bank of 45,000 acres across airports in the country.

AAI, which has undertaken development of 35 non-metro airports, has already completed 22, with the remaining to be wrapped up within the current Plan Period. The Authority had raised Rs 1,000 crore this fiscal, with plans to raise another Rs 1,000 crore through a mix of borrowings and internal accruals next fiscal to fund this programme.

Mr Agrawal said AAI will also be taking up a programme to revive at least 15 to 20 inoperative airports in the next Plan period at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore. “We have 125 airports, out of which 85 are at present operational. We believe that at least 15 to 20 of the inoperative airports can be taken up for revival immediately,” he said.

Apart from these, the Authority plans to take up 12 greenfield airport projects envisaging a total investment of Rs 20,000 crore in the next five years. “While the projects in which the respective state government had participation will be on PPP model, the rest will be totally handled by private players,” he said.

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