Air India divestment process looks very uncertain amid COVID-19 crisis, says Crisil

The disinvestment process for national carrier Air India looks "very uncertain" in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that has impacted the aviation sector the most globally, according to rating agency Crisil.

In another attempt to sell loss-making Air India, the government, in January this year, sought Expression of Interest (EoI) and the deadline for submission of EoI has now been extended till June 30. Initially, the deadline was March 17 and was first extended till April 30.

"With the current kind of environment, for people to bid for a known airline like Air India and the kind of commitment that they would have to make, it looks very uncertain that their process can go through in the current scheme of things," Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Director and Practice Leader (Transport and Logistics) at Crisil Infrastructure Advisory said on Thursday.

However, Crisil expects mergers and acquisitions of airlines in the face of the losses that the domestic carriers are estimated to suffer .