Financial bids for AI next month

New Delhi: The government expects to receive financial bids for Air India Ltd by September 15, junior civil aviation minister V.K. Singh said on Thursday.
“The last date for the submission of EoI (expression of interest) was 14.12.2020. Multiple EoIs were received by the transaction adviser (EY),” Singh said in a written response to queries in Parliament.
He said the request for proposal along with draft share purchase agreement has been shared with qualified interested bidders by the transaction adviser on March 30. “The financial bids are likely to be received by 15.09.2021,” he said. Singh did not disclose the shortlisted potential bidders.
The national carrier’s divestment process has been delayed by a few months due to the pandemic and also due to long-drawn processes such as physical inspection of assets by potential bidders, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary of the department of investment and public asset management (Dipam), the nodal agency involved in the divestment process, said at the Mint India Investment Summit 2021 in April.
Founded in 2006 as India’s first standalone health insurance provider, Star Health provides health, personal accident and overseas travel insurance.
Star Health files draft papers for $1 billion IPO

Unions representing tens of thousands of Amazon.com Inc. employees are planning walkouts and other actions in protest at the e-commerce giant’s handling of everything from sick pay and Covid-19 precautions to user privacy.
Revenue grew 12.83% as it reported double-digit growth across the three categories it operates in—beauty and personal care, home care, and foods and refreshments.
HUL posts a 9.5% rise in Q1 net profit
According to media reports, SpiceJet’s chairman and managing director Ajay Singh has also been shortlisted to bid for Air India in his individual capacity. Mint could not independently ascertain this.
Meanwhile, Singh said the moveable assets will be transferred to the airline’s new owners after privatization. “Immovable assets are being monetized by Air India to offset the debt of Air India Ltd,” he said.
While the government remains committed to Air India’s privatization, the carrier’s liabilities are expected to cross $20 billion by 2024-2025, which includes losses reported during FY21 and FY22 due to the pandemic, aviation consultancy firm Capa India said in its India Aviation Outlook FY22.
“Hence, the equation from an investor’s perspective is a potential liability of around $20 billion before the business turns around. The government must therefore keep this massive financial burden in mind and consideration should be given to making changes to the terms and conditions,” it said.
Air India will incur a net loss of ₹9,500- ₹10,000 crore in the year ended March 2021, up from a ₹8,000 crore loss recorded in the previous year, a senior official of the airline had earlier told Mint.