Air India privatisation: Govt to start roadshows in Singapore this week

Agencies
November 11, 2019

New Delhi, Nov 11: The government will start roadshows for privatisation of ailing state-run Air India this week in Singapore with Disinvestment Secretary T.K. Pandey along with senior aviation ministry and Air India officials to brief the prospective buyers for complete stake sale in the airline.

Sources said Pandey will be in Singapore this week along with senior aviation ministry and Air India officials to meet prospective bidders, address their concerns on Air India debt position, employee issues, and start the roadshows.

There are possibilities now for Air India Expression of Interest (EoI) to be floated this month after this meeting. The national carrier has a debt of Rs 57,000 crore and the bids will be invited for 100 per cent stake.

Once the roadshows start, this will mark the start of privatisation of Air India at the ground level, sources said.

Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola and Air India management have been discussing with the trade unions assuring them of security even after privatisation. The unions are opposed to privatisation fearing job losses.

As part of efforts to clean up the balance sheet of Air India before stake sale, around Rs 30,000 crore of its debt is proposed to be repaid by way of proceeds from the issuance of bonds by its special purpose vehicle, Air India Asset Holding Ltd (AIAHL).

AIAHL has already garnered a total of Rs 21,985 crore by way of bond issues and the proceeds would be utilised to pare the debt of the national carrier. It has an employee strength of 20,000 and has a market share of 13 per cent.

Last year, the government had floated the EoI for Air India for 76 per cent stake sale but it did not get a single bidder. Recently, the Cabinet approved changes in the process of disinvestment where the prospective bidders will be heard in the roadshows before EoIs are floated so their concerns are addressed while drawing up the Expression of Interest and government gets investors' interest in the CPSEs (central public sector enterprises).

The Air India stake sale also did not get any response last year as investors feared government interference with the remaining 24 per cent stake, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation had said in a report. Now that hurdle has been removed.

Air India posted an operating loss of around Rs 4,600 crore in the last financial year mainly due to higher oil prices and forex losses but the debt-laden carrier expects to turn operationally profitable in 2019-20, according to senior officials.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Jaipur, Mar 11: A 85-year-old man in Jaipur, who had returned from Dubai on February 28, has tested positive for coronavirus, a state government official said on Wednesday.

He was found presumptive positive in the first test on Tuesday and hence, a second test was conducted with fresh samples, the reports of which arrived late Tuesday night, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Rohit Kumar Singh, said.

“The man who travelled to Dubai has been tested positive for coronavirus. It has been confirmed now,” Singh said.

“We have also got the manifest of the Spicejet flight he took from Dubai to Jaipur and are doing due diligence on that,” the official said, adding that intense contact tracing was underway.

The man has been kept in isolation at the SMS Hospital here.

“The man came to the hospital on Monday with symptoms of the virus. After the first test, his wife and son too have been kept in isolation at the hospital. The two, however, do not have coronavirus affliction symptoms,” Singh said.

A total of 235 people who came in contact with the octogenarian and his family have already been traced and are being monitored, he said.

Other contacts are also being traced, Singh added.

An Italian couple, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, are also admitted in the hospital but their condition is improving, he said.

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News Network
April 17,2020

New Delhi, Apr 17: Prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held talks with Jordan King Abdullah II and discussed the challenges posed to the world by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The two leaders discussed the challenges posed to the world by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the steps being taken in their respective countries to limit its impact," an official statement said.

Prime Minister conveyed his greetings to Abdullah II and the people of Jordan for the upcoming Holy month of Ramadan which commences late next week.

The leaders agreed that their teams would remain in touch on issues related to COVID-19, as well as on other regional and global issues.

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Wellwisher
 - 
Friday, 17 Apr 2020

Fit for only discuss and diya and to lit candles.Rest of world leaders are struggling to save their citizen and Nation from this pandemic. Till when -----?.

 

For India only the organisation's and social welfare group and well wishers are in the field and helping.

Definitely with the blessings of patriot Indians they will succeed and they all will continue with their noble cause.

Jai Hind

 

 

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Agencies
April 23,2020

More and more Indians have become better prepared in the last one month, as far as stocking of their ration, medicine or money is concerned, according to the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker.

With the second leg of the lockdown half way through and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it's a long haul, 57.2% respondents said they have less than three weeks of stock while 43.3% said they have a stock that will last beyond that

However, if one breaks into weeks, most respondents said they are prepared for a week's time. 24.5% respondents said they have ration, medicine or money to last a week. This is closely followed by 21.9 % respondents saying they are ready for a month.

Meanwhile, 20.4 % said they are ready for a couple of weeks. There are 15.8 % who said they are ready for more than a month with food, ration and medicine. A tiny 5.6 % said they are ready with three weeks of stock.

However, there is 12.3% who still seem to live on the edge with less than a week's preparation.

But, the biggest takeaway from the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker is that in the last one month, a massive segment of society realised that the fight is long and the preparation should also be to last that long.

o put things into context, on March 16 when the tracker started, a whopping 77.1% said they have stock to last for less than a week. More than a month later on April 21, that number jumped to just 12.3%, which essentially means, people have become better prepared for a long-hauled lockdown period.

Similarly, on April 21, a sizable 21.9% respondents claimed they are ready with ration and medicine that will last them a month. On March 16, not even one respondent could claim they have a month's stock. In fact till March 22, just ahead of the announcement of the first lockdown, no respondent the IANS-CVoter tracker said that they have a month's preparation.

Similarly, when the tracker started, 9.9% said they simply ‘don't know'. As on April 21, that number is a big zero.

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