New Delhi: The government Wednesday permitted NRIs to control up to 100 per cent stake in disinvestment-bound Air India. The decision comes at a time when the government has sought preliminary bids for 100 per cent stake sale in the national carrier. The decision was taken in a meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, foreign investments in the national carrier including that of foreign airlines shall not exceed 49 per cent, either directly or indirectly, an official statement released after the meeting said. It added that the condition that substantial ownership and effective control of Air India shall continue to be vested in Indian nationals.
Although 100 per cent FDI is permitted under automatic route for NRIs in scheduled air transport service/domestic scheduled passenger airline, it is restricted to be only 49 per cent in Air India, the statement said.
“To permit foreign investment up to 100 per cent by those NRIs, who are Indian nationals, in case of Air India Ltd, the Union Cabinet…has approved to amend the extant FDI policy to permit foreign investment in Air India Ltd by NRIs, who are Indian nationals, up to to 100 per cent under automatic route,” the statement said.
“In light of the proposed strategic disinvestment of 100 per cent of Air India by the government, it has been decided that foreign investment in Air India be brought on a level playing field with other scheduled airline operators. The national carrier will have no residual government ownership and will be completely privately owned,” the statement added.
The amendments ‘are meant to liberalise and simplify the FDI policy to provide ease of doing business in the country’.
Addressing media on the issue, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that Wednesday’s decision on Air India is one milestone decision.
Allowing 100 per cent investment by NRIs in the carrier would also not be in violation of Substantial Ownership and Effective Control (SOEC) norms. NRI investments would be treated as domestic investments.
Further Javadekar said that due to series of steps taken by the government to relax FDI norms in areas such as contract manufacturing, single brand retail trading and coal mining, FDI into the country has increased significantly and India has become a major destination for FDI.
PTI
