'Rare Privilege': Tata Sons, SpiceJet Hail Historic Air India Takeover

The union government on Friday announced Tata Sons won the bid to acquire Air India offering Rs 18,000 crore for acquiring 100 per cent shareholding for the national carrier. The announcement made by Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said an SPV of Tata Sons – the holding company of conglomerate – has emerged as a successful bidder, beating SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh.

The DIPAM secretary said SPV of Tata Sons – the holding company of conglomerate – bid of Rs 18,000 crore comprises taking over of Rs 15,300 crore of debt and paying the rest in cash.

The announcement was welcomed by Ratan Tata who said the airline provides a very strong market opportunity to the group even through it will take considerable effort to rebuild the debt-laden carrier. “Welcome Back, Air India,” he said. “The Tata Group winning the bid for Air India is great news,” he said in a statement. “While admittedly it will take considerable effort to rebuild Air India, it will hopefully provide a very strong market opportunity to the Tata Group’s presence in the aviation industry.”

Chairman and Managing Director of SpiceJet, Ajay Singh in a statement congratulated Tata Group and said it was an honour to be shortlisted for the bidding. “I congratulate the Tata Group on winning the bid for Air India and wish them all the success. It was my honour and privilege to be shortlisted for bidding for Air India. I am confident that the Tata Group will restore the glory of Air India and make all of India proud,” he said.

He also thanked the government for its transparent and flexible disinvestment programme, “I would also like to congratulate the Government on the successful disinvestment of Air India. They ran a transparent and flexible process and gave new impetus to India’s disinvestment program. I have been an Air India fan all my life and it’s time for the Maharaja to reclaim its position as a leading airline of the world.”

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the return of Air India for the Tata company is a new dawn for the airline. “Air India’s return to the Tata group marks a new dawn for the airline! My best wishes to the new management, and congratulations to DIPAM Secretary and the Civil Aviation Ministry for successfully concluding the difficult task of paving a new runway for the airline to take off!” Scindia wrote on Twitter. “I hope the airline will continue to deliver on its mission of bringing people closer through its successful operations,” he added.

TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan said Air India is a “nostalgic airline” for most TCS employees and the IT services major will offer its complete support in whatever form it can, to contribute to the revival of the airline to its former glory.

“Air India is quite a nostalgic airline for most TCSers. Almost all of us took our first international trip on Air India, and we used to go with this return ticket and that used to be our safety guard that if all else fails, we just have to get to an Air India office somewhere, and we’ll get back home,” Gopinathan recalled. He added that TCS will do its best “to contribute in whichever form we can, to revive it (Air India) to the glory that it had as one of the best airlines in the world”.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, who previously served as TCS CEO, termed this a “historic moment”. “This is a historic moment, and it will be a rare privilege for our group to own and operate the country’s flag-bearer airline,” he said. Air India will be the third airline brand in the Tatas’ stable – it holds a majority interest in AirAsia India and Vistara, a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Ltd.

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