HomeAviation NewsHere’s what experts have to say on Air India divestment

Here’s what experts have to say on Air India divestment

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By CNBC-TV18 May 1, 2018, 4:11:31 PM IST (Updated)

After government of India came out with a set of clarifications on the proposed strategic disinvestment in Air India

, Ajay Dua, former Secretary, Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Jitender Bhargava, former Executive Director,  Air India, shared their views and readings on stake sale.

Talking about retaining employees, Bhargava said, "We must understand what the government has clarified in respect to this query is that there is no voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) in existence at the moment. But it does not say anywhere that you cannot launch a VRS post the disinvestment."

On pension scheme front, he said, "There is no pension scheme applicable for Air India employees. All that we have is our own contributed amount which has been converted into LIC annuities and annuities pay that money. Therefore, it’s a self-funding mechanism and there is no additional liability on the acquiring airline or even for that matter on Air India currently."

Dua said that one of the major factor approved was that only 76% is to be divested and the government will continue to keep the remaining 24%.

“Given the tepid response, the initial tepid specifications of interest and the number of queries which have come, the government may not be ready to close the deal by May 14 or getting serious contenders to put in their firm bids. It will have to first deal with these queries and also revisit the conditions which it has imposed and only then it will go ahead with the process,” Dua added.

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