Air India sell-off: Tata group eyeing majority stake in loss-making airline, says report

After finance minister Arun Jaitley last month said he favoured disinvestment of the loss-making Air India, private sector conglomerate Tata Group is believed to have shown interest in buying the carrier in alliance with SIA. It is understood that the recently appointed Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran has held informal talks with the govt for buying a majority stake in Air India. If the acquisition of the carrier goes through, Air India will be back into the fold of Tata Group after the airline was nationalised 64 years back. JRD Tata had started Tata Airlines in 1932, which was later in 1946 renamed as Air India and was subsequently nationalised in 1953. <br/>Although the Tatas have been eyeing Air India for past several years, the conglomerate already has 2 airline joint ventures operating in India over the past 4 years. <br/>