Centre to go ahead with Air India disinvestment

The Central government will go ahead with the process of disinvestment of Air India, said the Ministry of Civil Aviation in a statement on Thursday.

The ministry said that in a meeting on June 28, 2017, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had in principle approved the consideration for strategic disinvestment of Air India and its five subsidiaries.

An Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) was constituted by the CCEA for this.

In an AISAM meeting held on March 28, 2018, it was decided that due to issues like volatile crude oil prices and adverse fluctuations in exchange rates, the atmosphere was not conducive for the disinvestment. But this was last year, the statement read.

"However, continued support from the government had resulted in the improvement of financial and operational performance of Air India. As per the recommendations of AISAM, the government will now go ahead with the process of disinvestment of the company," the ministry further said in the statement.