Jaitley pitches for Air India disinvestment

May 28, 2017: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has favoured disinvestment of the loss-making Air India, the flag carrier airline of India. The minister said, the airline’s market share is just around 14 per cent whereas the debt burden is 50,000 crore rupees. It indicates possible stake sale in Air India, which is staying afloat on taxpayers’ money.

Mr Jaitley, at DD News programme, said, to run Air India, around 50,000 crore rupees have been put in and that money could have been used for promoting education.

Air India, which is surviving on a 30,000-crore rupees bailout package spread over 10 years announced by the UPA government in 2012, is working on ways to improve its financial position.