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A clear picture of the highest bidder for Air India will emerge by the end of August, RN Choubey Secretary, Civil Aviation, said here on Tuesday.
The highest bidder will have to meet Substantial Ownership and Effective Ownership criteria and get security clearances before the stake sale takes place.
“The Government retains the right to sell or not to sell Air India if the bid price is found to be inadequate,” Choubey said adding that the government is okay if the winner of Air India is an entity which does not have experience in the airline business.
Many Indian carriers, including Jet Airways and IndiGo, have both already indicated that they will not be interested in picking up a stake in Air India.
Earlier, the Secretary had told the media on the sidelines of a function in Mumbai that though there was a lot of interest in Air India, no America airline had shown an interest in buying a stake in the state-owned carrier. The government is looking at offloading 76 per cent of its stake in the airline.
The Government is keen to complete the divestment process by the end of this calendar year and hopes to identify those entities from whom financial bids will be called by June 15.
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