Treated 'unfairly' in India; interested in IndiGo stake: Qatar

Alleging that Indian authorities treated it "unfairly" vis-a vs other Gulf carriers, Qatar Airways today said it remains interested in buying stake in IndiGo despite losing out on an opportunity to participate in the budget carrier's IPO last year.
Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker told reporters here that the airline "could not invest in IndiGo IPO due to government's role".
Al Baker said the time was "short for Qatar sovereign funds to invest in IndiGo IPO", but it would be very much interested to buy a stake in the Gurgaon-based carrier "even now."
Doha-based Qatar -- one of the three Gulf carriers operating to India with Emirates and Etihad being the other two -- had several times in the past evinced interest in buying stake in IndiGo.

"Qatar is unfairly treated by Indian authorities" despite the fact that Qatar is the largest supplier of natural gas and fertiliser to India, he said.
Qatar Government raised "unfair treatment" issue (with the Indian Government) many times, Al bker said, while adding that "there is never a balance in air traffic rights."

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"We did at a time did show interest in IndiGo. But unfortunately because of their rules, governing and IPO in India, me as an airline, we couldn't go and invest in an IPO directly. We had to do it with our parent company, and our parent organisation, which is our sovereign fund, and to do that, we needed more time and the time was too short for us to move on this," Al Baker said.

"If there is an opportunity, it's a privately owned airline, I cannot force the owners to sell a stake to me. But if they are interested, Qatar Airways will be very interested," he added.