The sale of state-run Air India and Bharat Petroleum will be completed by March next year, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said. The minister, in an interview to the Times of India, stated that there is a “lot of interest” among investors as evident in international roadshows ahead of the sale of Air India.

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“We are moving on both with the expectation that we can complete them this year. The ground realities will play out,” the minister told the Times of India. The statement by the minister comes at a time when the sale of the two state-run companies forms a crucial part in the government’s plan to raise over Rs 1 lakh crore during this fiscal year itself.

Earlier, attempts towards the sale of Air India had to be aborted due to failure to generate interest from investors for the loss making national carrier. Air India has run into a debt of Rs 50,000 crore by some estimates and the special purpose vehicle (SPV) named Air India Assets Holding Limited (AIAHL) has mopped up Rs 21,985 crore by way of bond issues since September 16 with the proceeds being utilised to repay the debt of the national carrier.

According to industry sources, a number of global oil majors like Saudi Aramco, Rosneft, Kuwait Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total SA and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company have shown interests in BPCL and have had initial talks with the government on bidding for the latter's stake in BPCL.

First Published:Nov 17, 2019 6:11 PM IST