Tata Sons wins bid for Air India: Report

Tata Sons will take over Air India as it wins the bid for the airline. Tata Sons was in close competition with SpiceJet’s Ajay Singh, but a panel of ministers accepted the conglomerate's proposal ahead of Singh's, according to a report in Bloomberg.

An official announcement is expected in the coming days, the report stated.

The Indian government had been trying to sell the loss-making airline and has accumulated a loss of over $9.53 billion. The government tried to auction its majority stake almost three years ago but it drew no bids, forcing the government to ease the terms. Amid the pandemic the government also ended up extending the deadline for bids many times.

Experts told BusinessToday earlier this week that the government is likely to pick Tata Sons over Singh. They said that not only will the Expression of Interest be considered, the government will also take into account the financial situation of the winning entity.

Tata Group already has two airlines in its kitty -- Vistara and AirAsia. Even though they are facing losses, Tata as a conglomerate has unmatched financial competence. Meanwhile, both Tata Group and Singh have been long associated with the aviation sector.

However, the most interesting part of Tatas winning the bid for Air India is that the conglomerate had ventured into the aviation in 1932 with Tata Airlines or erstwhile Air India. After the nationalisation in 1953, Air India went to the government but the Tatas were at the driving seat for as late as 1977. 

Also read: Who will take away Air India?