The disinvestment department is likely to issue the expression of interest ((EoI) for the debt-ridden Air India after the winter holiday season which will ensure greater participation by foreign buyers.
"Tentatively the EoI could be any time after January 10," said a source.
While the government is keen to sell off the loss-making state-owned carrier Air India, attempts to showcase it as an attractive proposition to buyers have not been successful.
Air India has some unique strengths to offer to a potential acquirer which foreign airlines will prefer: its prized international slots and a strong presence in the Indian market.
Roadshows were recently held in Singapore and London to gauge investor interest for the debt-laden national carrier.
Last month Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Parliament that the bleeding carrier will have to be shut down if it fails to find a buyer.
A group of ministers overseeing the sale of Air India has already approved selling the entire government stake in the carrier.
Government is considering a plan to exclude $7bn of the airline's debt in a bid to make the airline more attractive to the buyers. Air India hasn't made any profit since its 2007 merger with another state-owned domestic operator Indian Airlines Ltd.
Air India is saddled with $11bn or Rs580,000mn in debt.
Selling Air India won't be easy due to its $11bn debt.
Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal recently said Air India would find takers, but its huge debt is an issue.
Vedanta, he said would look at BPCL once its EoI comes out.
Meanwhile, fed up with the uncertainty over their own future tagged with the fate of Air India, airline employees are in the process to deciding to either take the NCLT route to recover their dues or declare a general strike to put pressure on the government from privatising the national carrier.
The two options were arrived after all the recognised AI unions and other employee bodies met in Mumbai.
However, a final course of action will be decided after further discussion and is expected soon. If the strike option is chosen, then it will be initiated from January 8, 2020.
The decision to consider either the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) route or the strike comes days after the airline's pilots and engineers demanded immediate payment of their dues.
"We all met today and have decided that the privatisation exercise should cease immediately and some clarity be provided first," a senior office bearer of engineers' union told IANS from Mumbai.
"The country can not afford to loose the national carrier which provides affordable travel options to passengers. It is also an engine of economic growth during the time of slowdown."
On Monday, the airline's pilot union had requested the Centre to allow them to quit the passenger carrier without serving their notice periods.
"We are in a state of distress," a senior officer office-bearer of the pilots union, the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), told IANS.
"If the government wants to close down the airline, then they should say so and relieve us as soon as possible, so that we can find alternate employment. We also want that our notice period should also be waived-off."
On Monday, the ICPA in a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said: "It is unfair for the Government of India to keep us bonded with the notice period while we are not being paid on time and our dues are not cleared."
Terming the Civil Aviation Minister's statement that if Air India is not privatised by March 31, 2020, the airline will be shut down as "a matter of concern", the pilots' union said in the letter: "With this uncertainty over the survival of our national carrier and with no 'Plan B', we request you to ensure that we are not treated like bonded labour and allow us to quit Air India without serving the notice period and clear all our dues immediately."
At present, the union has 800 pilots as its members. As per the letter, currently 65 pilots have tendered their resignations and are serving the six-month notice period which is due for completion "very soon".
The Centre is likely to issue the expression of interest (EoI) for divestment of its stake in national passenger carrier during the first month of 2020.
Home Minister Amit Shah heads the panel looking after the divestment process. Its other members include Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and the Civil Aviation Minister.
In the previous Modi government, then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley headed the Ministerial panel, called the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM).