India reviews plan to sell stake in national carrier

The Indian government is reviewing its plans to sell a stake in loss-making national carrier Air India after an invitation for bids found no takers, officials said on Friday.
The government had announced a plan in March to sell a 76% stake in the airline as well as its 50% stake in Air India's ground-handling joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal
Service.
The deadline for bids expired on Thursday with no response, RN Choubey, the top official in the Civil Aviation Ministry said.
The government would be reviewing the terms of sale over the next couple of weeks, Choubey said.
In June 2017, India's federal cabinet approved a proposal to sell shares in the airline, which is more than $8.5bn in debt.
After potential bidders had expressed reservations over the terms offered, the government eased some of the conditions and extended an initial deadline to Thursday.
The flop of the high-profile divestment bid is being seen as a setback for plans by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to sell stakes in major government-owned units to keep the fiscal deficit low ahead of general elections scheduled in 2019.
Air India with its familiar Maharajah mascot flies to more than 100 destinations. It has landing and parking slots across India and global destinations but is also burdened by a huge staff of about 27,000.