National carrier Air India Ltd is offering to sell several properties including offices, flats and staff quarters at major metropolitans as the cash-strapped airline makes a renewed attempt for such divestments this fiscal.
According to a tender put up by the airline on its website on Friday, the airline has put up several properties in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Nashik, Nagpur.
These properties include residential units at New Delhi’s Asian Games Village Complex, flats at Bandra’s Pali Hill neighbourhood, flats at Kolkata’s Golfgreen locality, and the airline’s booking office at Nagpur, among others.
The e-auction closes on 9 July.
News agency Press Trust of India has reported that the airline plans to raise ₹200 crore to ₹300 crore from its asset monetization plan.
However, Air India’s attempt to monetize its land assets comes at a time when the country’s economy has been adversely impacted by the covid-19 pandemic.
It may be a challenge for the airline to raise a substantial amount of money from property sales as the real estate market hasn’t yet recovered from the impact of covid-19, said a senior aviation analyst with a foreign consultancy, who’s been tracking the airline for sometime.
“The sales will depend on the valuation put up by the airline,” the person added, requesting anonymity.
A senior official at Air India said that he expected real estate sales to rise as the economy picks up in the coming months with the vaccination drive gathering momentum.
“At the moment, it’s difficult to predict how much real estate sales can garner. But, we expect to ramp up a significant amount of money from the real estate monetization process this fiscal,” the official said, requesting anonymity.