Government may opt for stake sale in Air India in parts

The government may go with the option of offloadingits stake in the national carrier Air India in parts, according to a report in Reuters.

The idea behind selling stake in parts is to attract buyers. The government had approved the stake sale in the flagship carrier last month.

Successive governments have pumped billions of dollars into the fledgling airline which has a massive debt burden of $8.5 billion on its books.

Over the years, Air India has lost ground toprivate carriers like Indigo and Jet and its market share has shrunk to 13 per cent, the report said.

The PMO has set early next year as the deadline to get the process underway.