A business delegation from UAE’s Etihad Airways will meet Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma this week amidst talks of a possible deal with Jet Airways.

“A delegation from Etihad is coming to meet me on January 31,” Sharma told mediapersons on the sidelines of the CII Summit in Agra on Monday.

While the Minister did not elaborate on the agenda for the meeting, DIPP officials said that the changes in India’s FDI policy in aviation and Etihad’s prospects in India would be discussed.

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is expected to announce a deal to buy a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways soon. In fact, shares of Jet Airways traded higher on Monday on hopes of an early deal.

If the deal happens, this will be the first instance of a foreign airline acquiring a stake in an Indian carrier after the FDI policy on civil aviation was liberalised recently allowing foreign carriers to pick up stake.

Earlier this month, Jet Airways informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it was in discussion with Etihad on a potential investment.

“Discussions have commenced recently pursuant to the liberalised FDI policy which permitted foreign investment in the shares of an Indian airline.

“The discussions are in progress, but no terms have been firmed up at present. Various structures are being explored by the legal and commercial teams and care being taken to ensure that all the Indian regulatory requirements are fully complied with,” Jet said in its submission to the BSE.

Jet and Etihad are not new to each other. In fact, when Etihad was set up in 2003, it had sought Jet’s help in setting up its systems. The two already have a code-sharing agreement.

> amiti.sen@thehindu.co.in

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