The government is confident that its latest attempt at divesting Air India will go through this time, Hardeep Puri, Minister for Civil Aviation and senior government officials said on Monday.

“We are certain. We are very clear we are going to get it done with,” Puri said, adding that the government has resources which are scarce, which it would like to use for other more productive means and providing goods and services to citizens. “Therefore, privatisation is a requirement. Employees’ interests are also looked after,” he said, adding that a lot of people had come to the government directly to express interest, get details and offer suggestions.

Puri added that the government entering this process (AI divestment) now was qualitatively different from what happened in 2018. “There were many things happening in 2018.... there was an external environment which was not entirely conducive. Something as large as this normally is not attempted when you are running into a general election, as the civil servants and the political leadership tend to be very cautious,” he pointed out.

Addressing the media, Secretary Civil Aviation, Pradeep Singh Kharola said, “We are pretty hopeful of the divestment process this time.”

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW