No bidders for Air India's stake sale: Government

In a major setback to the Air India disinvestment process, the government said no initial bids were received for the proposed strategic stake sale of the debt laden airlines by the deadline on Thursday.

"As informed by the transaction adviser, no response has been received for the Expression of Interest floated for the strategic disinvestment of Air India," the Civil Aviation Ministry said in a tweet. "Further course of action will be decided appropriately," it added.

The government has proposed to offload 76 per cent equity share capital of the national carrier as well as transfer the management control to private players, as per the preliminary information memorandum.

The transaction would involve Air India, its low cost arm Air India Express and Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd. The latter is an equal joint venture between the national carrier and Singapore-based SATS Ltd.