The Centre will likely make the ailing Air India (AI) virtually debt-free by taking over an additional Rs 20,000 crore from its books before offering it afresh to bidders by the end of this month.
The government had taken over Rs 29,464-crore of AI debt earlier this financial year through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). AI’s assets, largely its fleet of aircraft, are estimated to be about Rs 20,000 crore, equivalent to the residual debt to be taken over by the prospective buyer, along with the entire government stake in the airline.