Air India won’t be privatised: Minister
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Civil Aviation Minister Vyalar Ravi has told Air India employees that a turnaround plan for the ailing national carrier would be worked out, allaying fears of privatisation.The minister also assured trade union representatives that there would be no retrenchment and employees’ interests would be protected, Economic Times said.A group of ministers (GoM) was scheduled to meet on 18 July to decide on the fate of the cash-strapped airline.The minister had assured that there would be no privatisation and that the government has pledged its full support for the revival of the airline, a union leader was quoted saying.The airline’s unions had raised issues concerning delay in salaries and lack of a cohesive HR policy. Debt-ridden Air India has loans of up to INR 44,000 crore, working capital loans of INR 22,000 crore and accumulated losses of over INR 15,000 crore, mainly on account of its merger with Indian Airlines in 2007 and aircraft purchases, the report said. The minister said he expected the government to infuse equity soon and that appointments would be made at the board level, including those of new independent directors, after heavyweights such as industrialist Anand Mahindra and economist Amit Mitra had quit.The airline has been waiting for the government to clear its turnaround plan, which envisages equity infusion of at least INR 17,000 crore from the government and addition of aircraft for the next four to five years. In a meeting with trade unions about 10 days ago, Air India’s chairman and managing director, Arvind Jadhav, had warned that salary payments would be difficult unless the government moved on the issue soon.
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