Air India sale delayed as government scraps shortlist deadline

India’s government has hit another stumbling block in its years-in-the-making sale of flag carrier Air India. The timeline for the sale is now uncertain after the government decided against informing bidders today as to whether they had been shortlisted. It had previously stated that it would inform qualified interested bidders on 5 January. However, in an 11th corrigendum published on 30 December, it scrapped that plan and instead said that a transaction adviser would “directly intimate” to selected bidders “in relation to their qualification and the next steps for the proposed transaction”. It did not give a timeframe or deadline for when that would happen. The government said on 14 December, via the Twitter account of the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, that it had received “multiple expressions of interest” in Air India, without giving details. <br/>