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Divestment of IA, HCI next year; HCI funds to be poured into Air-India

The government will begin the process of divestment of Indian Airlines within a year, Civil Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar said today.

Kumar, who is part of the task force on infrastructure, told the media that air divestment will be preceded by divestment of Hotel Corporation of India. Global consultants have been appointed for this purpose who will go into the question of floating of tenders and other issues.

The funds accrued from the divestment of HCI will be put into Air-India and then the latter will be divested (thereby meaning that Air-India shares would give a better return). HCI is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Air-India.

When asked to comment on the United States move to blacklist more than 200 Indian companies and institutions, Ananth Kumar said: ''We will explore alternative markets. We have sent encouraging signals to alternative markets.''

UNI

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