At least 29 properties of the flag carrier Air India will go under the hammer in the first week of July. Through public notices in multiple publications, Air India announced the e-auction of residential, commercial properties and plots across major cities.
Air India is looking to sell prime properties in metro cities. Its public notice includes the sale of a residential plot and a flat in Mumbai, a residential plot in Bengaluru, and four flats in Kolkata and five in New Delhi.
The debt-strapped airline is also looking at selling a booking office and staff quarter in Aurangabad, a residential plot along with Airline House in Bhuj, six flats in Nashik, booking office in Nagpur and a residential plot in Thiruvananthapuram and two flats in Mangaluru are for sale, according to the notice.
The e-bid will start on July 8, and close on July 9.
MSTC to handle e-auction
Government enterprise MSTC Ltd will handle the e-auction for Air India. According to MSTC’s website, the starting price of the properties range between ₹13 lakh and ₹36 crore.
In the past three years, Air India made two efforts to sell 71 properties in 2018 and 56 properties in 2019.
According to a source, Air India is looking to monetise these assets following the recommendations of the Kelkar committee. Another person added that the sale of these properties could raise at least ₹250 crore for the company.
Earlier this month, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that Air India was cashstrapped and owed monies to the tune of ₹60,000 crore, hence, the disinvestment of Air India is likely to happen by the end of this year.
The government is looking to raise at least ₹15,000 crore from the sale of Air India, it’s subsidiary Air India Express and AISATS
The Tata Group and Ajay Singh of SpiceJet are understood to have placed a bid for Air India.