Tata officially completed takeover of Air India

In news- Recently, the Tata Group has regained control of Air India, 69 years after the Mumbai-based conglomerate relinquished its stake in the airline to the Central government. It was officially confirmed by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

History of Air India-

- Air India was started in 1932 by Tata Group’s former Chairman Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (J.R.D.) Tata was the nation’s first carrier, flying mail between Karachi, then a part of undivided British-ruled India, and Bombay.
- It was then known as Tata Airlines and was renamed Air India only in 1946.
- After the country got independence, the airline was nationalized in 1953 by the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
- Nationalization created two corporations—one for domestic service, called Indian Airlines Corporation (merging Air-India Limited with six lesser lines), and one for international service, Air-India International Corporation.
- The latter’s name was abbreviated to Air-India in 1962.
- In fact, industrialist JRD Tata served as the chairman of Air India till 1977.

After India began allowing private airlines in 1994, Air India struggled to remain competitive.

It began posting losses in 2007 and merged with Indian Airlines later that year to form National Aviation Company of India Ltd. (NACIL; renamed Air India Ltd. in 2010).
After accumulating billions of dollars in debt over the next decade, the government began looking to privatize the company in 2017.
In October 2021, the Tata Group emerged as the winning bidder for 100% of Air India (including the airline’s 100% stake in budget airline Air India Express and 50% stake in ground handling firm AI-SATS), having placed a bid of Rs 18,000 crore.
Of this amount, Tatas have taken over Rs 15,300 crore worth of debt and Rs 2,700 crore to be paid to the government in cash.