Kharola appointed Air India CMD

The government on Tuesday appointed IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India.

According to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), Kharola is an IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre of 1985. He will have the rank and pay of a Secretary in the government.

Kharola headed the Metro in Bengaluru as Managing Director.

The appointment comes days after incumbent Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal was given a three-month extension.

Bansal, presently Financial Advisor to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, had been given additional charge as Air India CMD. He had succeeded Ashwani Lohani in August after the latter was appointed Chairman of the Railway Board.

Kharola's appointment comes at a time when a ministerial group has been formed to look into the modalities of Air India's divestment process.

The group -- Air India-specific Alternative Mechanism -- is being headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The group has been mandated to guide the strategic divestment process and to decide on key issues such as treatment of the airline's debt and hiving-off of its assets.

The demerger and strategic divestment of three profit making subsidiaries, the quantum of disinvestment and the universe of bidders is also on the group's agenda.

--IANS

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