Next stage of airport privatisation to begin in April

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will initiate the third stage of the airport privatisation process for 6-10 airports in April.

In her budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government would privatise AAI airports from tier 1 and 3 cities during 2021-22.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation approved the leasing of six airports, namely Trichy, Indore, Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneshwar, Varanasi, and Raipur for undertaking operations, management, and development through public-private partnerships (PPP).

Acting chairman Anuj Agarwal said AAI is raising Rs 2,100 crore from banks for its capital expenditure requirements in 2021-22.

AAI has already approved Adani Group's proposal to take over the Mumbai airport, said Agarwal.

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In September 2020, the Adani Group entered into a definitive pact to buy GVK Airport Developers Ltd's debt, against which a 50.5% stake in Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) had been pledged. The Gautam Adani-led conglomerate had said it would also buy the combined 23.5% stake held by Airport Co of South Africa and South Africa's Bidvest Group in MIAL.

Air India's divestment process is also on track, said the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The ministry said the transaction adviser has received the expression of interest (EoI) from bidders. The transaction adviser will now seek financial bids from the qualified bidders, said the ministry.

Also read: Adani’s MIAL takeover approved by AAI