The Government of India’s Civil Aviation Ministry has invited expressions of interest (EoI) for sale of 76% equity share capital of the debt-ridden Air India and transfer control of management to private parties.

Following the sale, the government will retain 26% share in Air India and the selected bidder is expected to invest in the carrier for at least three years, reported indianexpress.com.

The EoI is part of the government’s preliminary information memorandum, which has also invited bids for the sale of India’s 50% share in Air India SATS Airport Services, an equal joint venture between Air India and Singapore Air Transport Services (SATS).

It has further sought bids to divest Air India’s two subsidiaries, as well as its international division Air India Express, reported businesstoday.in.

“The memorandum has further noted that investment will be carried out by competitive bidding, which is scheduled to be completed by December.”

Foreign airlines are also invited to take part in the investment process. The last date for submitting an EoI is 14 May.

The memorandum has further noted that investment will be carried out by competitive bidding, which is scheduled to be completed by December.

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Air India is currently operating under a bailout package. It has a total debt of Rs520bn ($8bn), Rs330bn ($5bn) of which is working capital loans.

The party that buys Air India is expected to bear less than half of the total debt of Air India.

Parties with a minimum aggregate net worth of Rs50bn ($769m) will be allowed to take part in the latest bidding process, while domestic airlines with zero or negative net worth can form consortiums to take part in the bidding.

The bidding follows an in-principle approval granted by India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in June last year on the strategic investment of Air India.

Tata Group could reportedly form an alliance with Singapore Airlines to bid for the Indian carrier. It is the former owner of Air India.