Govt wants to finish privatisation of Air India by Dec 2018: Jayant Sinha

The government is expecting to have the winning bidder for national carrier Air India by the end of June and the "legal closing" of the transaction by year-end, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said on Friday.

To revive the fortune of the debt-laden carrier, the government has decided on a strategic disinvestment and a group of ministers is working on the modalities.

"We expect to have the winning bidder by the end of June," the Minister of State for Civil Aviation said, adding that legal closing of the transaction is expected by the end of this year.

The information memorandum for the proposed disinvestment of the airline would be issued shortly, Sinha told reporters here.

The debt-laden airline is staying afloat on taxpayers' money under a turnaround plan approved by the previous UPA regime in 2012.

As part of a turnaround plan, the national carrier is to receive up to Rs 302.31 billion from the government subject to meeting certain performance thresholds over a ten-year period, starting from 2012.