According to a Reuters report, Tata Sons has been selected as the winning bidder to take over state-run carrier Air India, the government said on Friday, marking the end of years of struggle to privatize the financially troubled airline.
Tata Sons, the holding company for the autos-to-steel Tata conglomerate, bid 180 billion rupees ($2.40 billion) for the government’s 100% stake in Air India, a finance ministry official told reporters.
Tata’s special purpose vehicle (SPV) Tallis Pvt Limited emerged as the winning bidder, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.
Rajiv Bansal, Civil Aviation Secretary said to NDTV that the winning bidder will not retrench any employee for a minimum period of one year and if retrenched after a year, they will have to be offered VRS (voluntary retirement scheme).
Gratuity and PF benefits will be provided to all employees, he added.
Rajiv Bansal further said, “As of today, there are 12,085 employees in Air India out of which 8,084 are permanent and 4,001 are contractual. Besides this, Air India Express has an employee strength of 1,434.”
In December 2020, the government invited expressions of interest for the divestment of Air India.
