Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran says interested in bidding for Air India

Tata Group is interested in bidding for state owned Air India, N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Group’s holding company Tata Sons, told television channel CNBC TV18 in an interview.

The Tata group chairman told the channel that Tata would “definitely look” at Air India once the government finalises privatisation process.

Chandrasekaran further said, “The government has yet not made clear if it will sell all parts of Air India and what it might do about the loss-making airline debt burden of $8.5 billion.”

He added, they are waiting for details.

Chandrasekaran during the interview to the channel said that they have two airliners — joint ventures in India, one with Singapore Airlines and the other with Malaysia’s AirAsia Bhd — and both are subscale.

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“I feel scale is important,” added the Tata group chairman.

When CNBC TV18 asked him whether Tata had spoken to Singapore Airlines about its interest in bidding for Air India, Chandrasekaran replied, “Do you think I would have not.?”

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In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet gave the go-ahead to sell Air India, which has received $3.6 billion since 2012 in state aid.

Indian carrier IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation and Turkey’s Celebi Aviation Holding have expressed interest in buying some of Air India’s various business.

Air India was founded in 1930s by the Tata Group.