Mumbai: National carrier Air India Ltd, which has asked the central government to revive its equity infusion after its sale plans stalled, is seeking ₹2,100 crore from the government to address its immediate operational needs, two senior officials of the airline told Mint.

However, this infusion will only take care of the airline’s short-term capital requirements and the national carrier could have to dip into the market again to raise money for its fleet and other expansion plans, which include future procurement of aircraft on lease.

The government has decided to "wait and watch" for the next three-four months before taking a call on disinvestment of national carrier Air India due to prevalent market condition specially high fuel prices, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.

The government's proposed stake sale in Air India failed to attract any initial bidder when the deadline for bidding ended on May 31.

On Air India's disinvestment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government doesn’t want to be accused of selling something cheaply.

In an interview to Swarajya magazine, Modi said he disagreed with the perception that his government had been half-hearted at divesting from public sector entities. He said it had undertaken “significant disinvestment”.

Mumbai: Cash-strapped national carrier Air India has doubled the gratuity ceiling amount of its employees from Rs 10 lakhs to Rs 20 lakhs.

An Air India letter dated on June 26, said, "It has been decided to implement the enhancement of gratuity payable to employees under Payment of Gratuity Amendment Act 2018,

New Delhi: Air India will not be sold during the remaining tenure of the Modi government and the process could be started afresh only after 2019 general elections, a top government source told Financial Chronicle.

The source, who is directly involved in the strategic disinvestment process of the loss-making carrier, said there is a broad thinking in the government to retain the ‘swadeshi’ tag for the national carrier and hence investment proposals from a foreign carrier would neither be pursued nor entertained.

Even as the government’s efforts to sell majority stake in Air India came a cropper, it has come to light that a section of Air India’s pilots, deputy general managers (DGMs), clerks and other officials has been making some easy money on the side by playing the system. Airbus and Dreamliner pilots’ flying hours and rosters are being nimbly manipulated, with the result that the loss-making national carrier is ending up paying these pilots a lot more than it needs to.

Nearly two dozen Air India flights were delayed across its network including at IGI Airport here today after a technical glitch in the check-in software hampered operations, an airline spokesperson said. The departure timings of as many as 23 flights were affected and the delays owing to the software malfunction stretched from 15-30 minutes, the spokesperson said.

It looks like the government wants to play safe with Air India's privatisation as general elections are just around the corner. Weeks after the divestment process found no takers for the beleaguered national carrier, the government said it would soon review the plan to sell a stake in Air India. The process, now turned out to be a complete failure, was anyway facing stiff resistance from not only the opposition but from some within the government.

India has shelved its sale of Air India after failing to attract buyers, local media quoted a government minister as saying – a decision that could exacerbate the carrier’s financial woes and representing a setback for government efforts to cut debt. Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said plans to privatise the carrier have been dropped for now due to factors such as the looming election and high oil prices, according to Times of India which cited news agency PTI.

The government has decided not to go ahead with Air India stake sale in an election year and will provide required funds for its operations, a senior official said today.

The decision comes less than 3 weeks after the proposed 76 per cent strategic stake sale in debt laden national carrier failed to attract any bidder.

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