By Chinelo Obogo
TATA Group formally took over the loss-making airline Air India , owned by the Indian government , on January 27, 2022. Aerotime hub reports that the handover ends a long process of the Indian government’s attempt to transfer the ownership of the airline to a private owner. The airline has never made profit since its merger with Indian Airlines in 2007-08 and has reported a loss of Rs 7,017 crore in FY 21.
The salt-to-software conglomerate won the bid for Air India from the government for Rs 18,000 crore on October 8, 2021 after a competitive bidding process. After that, a letter of intent (LoI) was issued to the Tata Group on October 11 and the share purchase agreement (SPA) for the deal was signed on October 25. The carrier was renamed Air India in 1946 and then nationalised in 1948, after India gained independence.The Indian government had been trying to sell Air India for years, with an initial process in 2017 failing to attract interest and the COVID-19 pandemic putting paid to a further attempt in 2020.