On Thursday, the Tata group formally took over Air India from the government. Before the official transfer, Mr. Chandrasekaran met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This Big Story’s 10-Point Cheatsheet
1. The government sold Air India to Palace Private Limited, a subsidiary of the Tata group’s holding firm, for Rs 18,000 crore in October last year.
2. Following that, the government sent a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the Tata group, affirming the government’s intent to sell its whole ownership of the airline. The Centre had then executed the share purchase agreement (SPA) for this transaction.
3. The Tata company will also receive Air India Express and a 50% share in the ground handling arm Air India SATS as part of the agreement.
4. Tatas had overbid a consortium led by SpiceJet entrepreneur Ajay Singh for a 15,100 crore offer, as well as the government’s reserve price of 12,906 crores for the sale of its whole interest in the loss-making carrier.
5. While this would be the first privatization since 2003-04, Air India will be the Tata Group’s third airline brand since it has a controlling interest in AirAsia India and a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Ltd called Vistara.
6. Tatas would lose non-core assets including Air India’s Vasant Vihar Housing Complex, the Air India Building in Mumbai’s Nariman Point, and the Air India Building in New Delhi.
7. Air India now maintains 4,400 domestic and 1,800 international landing and parking spaces at domestic airports, as well as 900 slots internationally.
8. Tatas will get 42 leased planes from the airline, with the rest 99 being owned jets.
9. Over the previous decade, the loss-making airline has received more than 1.10 lakh crore in financial support and loan guarantees to keep it going. At the moment, Air India is losing roughly 20 crores per day.
10. In 1932, the Tatas founded Tata Airlines, which was eventually renamed Air India in 1946. The airline was taken over by the government in 1953, but JRD Tata remained its chairman until 1977. After 69 years, Air India will return to Tatas with this handover.