Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran has reportedly held talks with the Indian government about buying stakes in Air India. The Tata Group, in partnership with Singapore Airlines may be looking at buying the state carrier from the government, and if the deal comes through, it would be a homecoming of sorts for Air India - originally owned by the group before being nationalised in 1953.
Chandrasekaran held informal talks with the government, expressing preliminary interest in buying a controlling stake in Air India with 51 per cent equity, a media report said. The government has been in talks about privatising the beleaguered airline that has been running in losses for over a decade. AI has already received bailout packages worth about £2.40 billion out of a total £3 billion approved. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had recently said the aviation ministry has to explore all possibilities “as to how the privatisation of Air India can be done”. In 2013, then chairman of Tata Group, Ratan Tata had said the group would be “very happy to look” at AI “as and when it (privatisation) happens”. The conglomerate is already present in the Indian civil aviation space with two of its joint ventures including low-cost carrier AirAsia India in partnership with Malaysia's Air Asia, and full service airline Vistara in partnership with Singapore Airlines.
Sources in Bombay House, the Tata headquarters, said that the group is not particularly keen to acquire AI unless the government significantly reduces the carrier's £5 billion -plus debt. When contacted, a Tata Group spokesperson declined to comment on the matter; senior officials in the civil aviation ministry also chose to remain tightlipped.
If the Tatas buy into Air India, the national carrier will return to the original owner. JRD Tata had pioneered aviation in the country with the establishment of Tata Airlines in 1932. Fourteen years later, the carrier was rebranded as Air India and subsequently nationalized in 1953.
