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Air-India selloff not in the near future: Shourie

The government will not divest equity in India's international carrier Air-India in the near future but would pump fresh funds into the airliner to improve its financial health, Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said in Singapore on Monday.

Mega investments will be made to make the airlines attractive for joint ventures, Shourie said in reply to a question at a joint briefing with Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry George Yeo.

Shourie said the events following the September 11 terror attacks in the United States had adversely affected the health of the global aviation industry, because of which the time was not opportune to privatise Air-India.

He regretted that Singapore International Airlines, which was at one point of time was interested in acquiring a stake in A-I, had to pull out due to bureaucratic hurdles.

"It was a great opportunity missed," Shourie said. The funds to be infused will help Air-India acquire more aircraft and utilise the unused landing rights with several countries, Indian official sources said.

Replying to a question as to whether foreign investors would not be deterred by the slow pace of the privatization programme in India, Shourie said that the government had concluded 18 transactions over the past ten months and stake in 25 other companies will now be on offer.

"Some of this will be concluded within a month," he added.

UNI

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