Airport privatisation hangs in limbo

Notwithstanding Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's announcement on FDI cap of 49 per cent for Mumbai and Delhi airport privatisation, the government it seems is planning to "rethink" the subject.

The earlier decision of the National Democratic Alliance government to allow upto 74 per cent foreign direct investment was cleared by the Cabinet and hence it could not be changed without going back to the Cabinet, sources said.

Souces also pointed out that Patel announced the decision without consulting the commerce and industry ministry, a nodal ministry for FDI policies.

The issue may now come up before the Cabinet as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) opposed the decision and asked the government to go slow on the issue.

CPI-(M) veteran Harkishan Singh Surjeet has also shot off a letter to the civil aviation minister urging him to "shelve any plans to privatise airports in our country".

On September 11, 2003, the NDA government had approved a proposal under which private investment, including FDI, could go up to 74 per cent in a joint venture for airport modernisation in Mumbai and Delhi.

Though Finance Minister P Chidambaram has repeatedly said the United Progressuive Alliance government was committed to economic reforms and expected a strong flow of foreign investments in the next 10 months, especially in the power sector, the market discounted his repeated assurance in the face of reversal of reform measure in the airports.