Gulf carrier eyed stake in Air India’s MRO unit

New Delhi: Aviation minister Ajit Singh's recent observation that Air India could get private suitors despite its poor health may have come from the fact that a leading Gulf carrier reportedly evinced interest in its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit some time back.
This unit was hived off from AI as a subsidiary with about 7,000 employees and the Gulf carrier was eyeing a stake in it. However, AI did not respond.
According to sources, a decision to disinvest in AI or any of its subsidiaries has to first come from the government. Also, the MRO and ground handling subsidiaries have been carved out of AI very recently and employees being shifted there were anyway apprehensive at leaving the parent AI that has been assured government funding of Rs 30,000 crore over the next decade.
The government had clearly said that these two separate "profit centers" may at a later stage get private investors but selling a stake so soon after creation could have led to fears among employees.
Read news in  full 19/10/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India