19-May-2022: Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chairs the 7th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of New Development Bank via video-conference

Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs and India’s Governor for the New Development Bank (NDB), Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 7th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of NDB through video-conference in New Delhi today. The meeting was also attended by Governors/Alternate Governors of Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa and the newly joined members Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Due to ongoing pandemic, this Annual Meeting of NDB which was hosted/chaired by India this year, was organised in virtual mode. This year’s theme for the Annual Meeting was “NDB: Optimising Development Impact”, which is particularly important and relevant in the current global economic scenario.

The Finance Minister, in her statement, underscored the importance of multilateralism and the spirit of global cooperation for economic recovery. In this regard, Smt. Sitharaman acknowledged that the NDB has successfully established itself as a reliable development partner for Emerging Market Economies.

Highlighting that India is celebrating 75 years of Independence this year, the Union Finance Minister mentioned that India’s economic growth in the current financial year has been robust and is estimated to be 8.9 per cent which is the highest among all large economies. This reflects India’s strong resilience and speedy recovery. Smt. Sitharaman expressed confidence that India will continue to achieve a high growth rate in the current and next financial year.

While acknowledging the NDB’s achievements and progress made over the last six years, Smt. Sitharaman highlighted that the Bank has demonstrated strong results within its core mandate. The Union Finance Minister also appreciated the progress made towards setting up of the India Regional Office in Gift City, Gujarat.

The Finance Minister concluded her statement on a positive note, stating that NDB will play a significant and meaningful role in the development journey of its member countries in the decades to come.

About NDB: NDB is a multilateral development bank, set up by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in 2014 with the objective of mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS as well as other EMDCs of the world. The Bank was operationalised in 2015, with its Headquarters in Shanghai, China. Last year, NDB has expanded its membership to include four countries namely, Bangladesh, UEA, Egypt and Uruguay.  NDB has so far approved 21 projects of India for an amount of $7.1 billion.

18-Aug-2021: India expresses desire to expand the horizon of New Development Bank (NDB) for strengthening social infrastructure at BRICS Industry Ministers meet

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal today chaired the “ 5th meeting of BRICS Industry Ministers”  Meeting under the Chairmanship of India. The Industry Ministers of BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa) H.E. Mr. Xiao Yaqing   Minister of Industry & IT of the People’s Republic of China, H.E. Mr. Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Trade, Industry & Competition of the Republic of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Carlos Da Costa, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economy, Government of Federative Republic of Brazil and H.E. Mr. Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation and delegates attended the virtual meeting.

India chose the theme of BRICS@15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus for its Chairmanship, this year.

In the 5th Meeting of BRICS Industry Ministers held on 18th August 2021, the Joint Declaration was adopted.

India’s efforts of channelizing technology towards good and smart governance thus increasing transparency and accountability, were highlighted. India has developed a vibrant and dynamic start-up ecosystem, leveraged existing platforms and digital technologies such as Aadhar and UPI payments for ensuring delivery of critical services to the last mile. Online systems like COWIN and digital vaccination certificates are being cited as success stories across the world today.

Ministers recognized the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic particularly in the fields of trade and industry. They complimented all the COVID warriors, our doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and scientists, across all the BRICS countries, for their selfless and tireless efforts in saving our lives.

They appreciated the need for adopting the emerging new technologies in a swiftly changing world and recognized this as an important tool for modernization and transformation of industry, promotion of inclusive economic growth, thus helping BRICS national economies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

They agreed on the need to build human resources in line with the changing requirements accelerated by the new emerging technology to promote training and skills development of the related workforce and businesses through workshops, seminars, and exchange programs.

They reiterated their commitment to make efforts to foster open, fair, and non-discriminatory trade environment, ensure greater participation in global value chains, promote digital inclusion, assess the implications, and encourage the progressive, safe, equitable, and sustainable use of disruptive technologies for advancing growth.

They expressed their intention to collaborate with the New Development Bank (NDB). India expressed the desire to expand the horizon of NDB and resources be utilized for strengthening of social infrastructure besides promotion of Industrial sector.

The meeting concluded with the BRICS Industry Ministers reaffirming their commitment to work together as a group, complement strengths of each other, share best practices and learn from weaknesses, and move ahead in a positive and constructive manner to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

11-May-2021: Department of Economic Affairs and New Development Bank are jointly organising a virtual seminar on “social infrastructure financing and use of digital technologies”

The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and the New Development Bank (NDB) are jointly organising a virtual seminar on “Social Infrastructure Financing and use of Digital Technologies” on May 13, 2021, as part of the Economic and Financial Cooperation Agenda under the Indian BRICS Chairmanship, 2021.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has reinforced the importance of investing in social infrastructure and underpinned the importance of leveraging Digital Technologies in both advanced and emerging economies. The challenges faced, are common to all, especially to the BRICS nations. There is a great potential in building sustainable mechanism to chart the way forward and share the common benefits associated with social, economic and digital development.

This seminar will engage high-level participants from both public and private sector and will focus on the key issues surrounding social infrastructure financing and the use of Digital Technologies in the 21st century.

During panel discussions and two thematic sessions, various topic such as

1. the importance of investing in social infrastructure to promote sustainable development
2. steps for tackling the challenges related to social infrastructure financing
3. ways to de-risk the projects to enhance private sector participation
4. the value of integrating digital technology into social infrastructure to enhance delivery of health and education in the post-COVID-19 recovery; and
5. explore the range of viable models and instruments for financing social infrastructure in the BRICS countries, will be deliberated.

30-Mar-2021: Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman attends 6th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of New Development Bank through video-conference

Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs and India’s Governor in New Development Bank (NDB), Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman attended the 6th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of New Development Bank through video-conference in New Delhi today. The meeting was also attended by Governors/Alternate Governors of Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa.

Due to the current pandemic, this Annual Meeting of NDB was organized in virtual mode. This year's Annual Meeting theme was “New Development Paradigms: The Evolution of Infrastructure” which is well aligned with its mandate.

The Finance Minister underscored India’s quick response to limit the impact of the pandemic and to undertake massive vaccination drives which are resulting in a ’V shape recovery’. Smt. Sitharaman also highlighted that the world’s largest vaccine drive by India is under way and till date, , India has supplied 63.9 million doses of made-in-India COVID vaccine to 80 countries including 10.4 million doses of the vaccine  as a grant.

While acknowledging the Bank’s achievements and progress made over the last six years, Smt. Sitharaman highlighted NDB's role in countercyclical lending through a $10 billion Emergency Assistance Programme for supporting the member countries in fighting the COVID pandemic. The Finance Minister also stressed the need for NDB to maintain and improve upon the ratings assigned by international rating agencies through adequate capitalization, high quality governance and prudent management.

The Finance Minister encouraged the NDB to facilitate private sector participation, explore more innovative financing structures, discover co-financing opportunities with other MDBs, develop a pipeline of bankable projects, and promote environmental and social safeguards to enhance the sustainability of infrastructure, etc.

Highlighting the role of Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) in infrastructure financing, she mentioned that India is going to set up a new DFI with initial paid-up capital of around $3 billion with a lending target of $69 billion in next three years. She also suggested NDB to develop a synergistic relationship with these institutions that share its development priorities to achieve greater results.

NDB, a multilateral development bank was set up by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in 2014 with the objective of mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS as well as other EMDCs of the world. The Bank has been operationalised in 2015, with its Headquarters in Shanghai, China. NDB has so far approved 18 projects of India for an amount of $6,924 million.

6-Jan-2021: Government of India & NDB sign two loan agreements for USD 646 million for upgrading State Highway Network and District Road Network in Andhra Pradesh

The Government of India, the Government of Andhra Pradesh, and the New Development Bank (NDB) today signed loan agreements of up to USD 323 million each for two projects. The first project – Andhra Pradesh Roads and Bridges Reconstruction Project – comprises widening 1,600 km of State Highways to double lane and reconstructing dilapidated bridges on the State Highway network. The second project – Andhra Pradesh Mandal Connectivity and Rural Connectivity Improvement Project – comprises widening 1,400 km of district roads to double lane and reconstructing dilapidated bridges on the district road network. The Government of Andhra Pradesh will implement the Projects through the Roads and Buildings Department.

The two projects are expected to improve mobility and connectivity to the socioeconomic centres, enhance transport efficiency, improve road safety and riding quality, and provide all-weather accessibility for the State's road users. The projects would increase the roads' daily traffic capacity to 15,000 passenger car units, which is expected to meet the projected traffic growth over the next 20 years.

The agreement was signed by Shri Baldeo Purushartha, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India, Shri M. T. Krishna Babu, Principal Secretary, Transport, Roads and Buildings Department on behalf of the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Mr. Xian Zhu, Vice President, and Chief Operations Officer on behalf of the NDB.

"India is committed to sustainable development and inclusive growth," said Shri Baldeo Purushartha, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. "The projects will contribute to the development of state infrastructure, enhance road connectivity and safety, and provide connectivity between adjoining Mandal headquarters and rural areas. The projects will also have a positive impact on employment generation and economic well-being."

"The projects will expand the capacity of roads with high vehicular traffic, improve last-mile connectivity to ports and industrial hubs and enhance connectivity to rural areas contributing to the enhanced socioeconomic development of the State of Andhra Pradesh. NDB funding shall help to bridge the funding gap for road infrastructure development and will support the Government of Andhra Pradesh in its goal to enhance connectivity between socioeconomic centres" said Mr. Xian Zhu.

The NDB was established based on the Inter-Governmental agreement among the BRICS countries (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa) signed on July 15, 2014. The Bank's purpose is to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging market economies and developing countries. The tenor of each loan is 32 years, including a moratorium period of 5 years.

16-Dec-2020: Government of India and NDB sign agreement for $1,000 million to provide support to Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan through MGNREG Scheme to support India’s economic recovery from COVID-19

The Government of India and the New Development Bank (NDB) today signed a loan agreement for lending $1,000 million for ‘supporting India’s economic recovery from COVID-19’ by supporting expenditures on rural infrastructure related to natural resource management (NRM) and rural employment generation under Government of India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

The country-wide restriction on movement of people, coupled with additional stringent restrictions imposed by State Governments and intermittent localized lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19, affected domestic supply and demand, resulting in slowed down economic activity. This resulted in loss of employment and income of workers especially those employed in the informal sector, including rural areas.

The programme will support Government in mitigating the adverse economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic and enable economic recovery in the rural areas through:

1. natural resource management works which will facilitate economic activity and
2. employment generation to stimulate rural demand, to combat the decline in economic activity due to outbreak of COVID-19.

The programme proposes creation of durable rural infrastructure assets relating to NRM and generation of employment opportunities for rural poor, especially migrant workers who have returned from urban areas and have lost their livelihoods due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The agreement was signed by Shri Baldeo Purushartha, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. Xian Zhu, Vice President, Chief Operations Officer on behalf of the NDB.

Shri Purushartha said that the programme will improve the livelihood of rural poor along with providing income opportunities to migrant workers who has returned from urban areas because of job loss caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Shri Purushartha further added that NDB’s timely assistance will help the Government in combatting the economic disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic and creating employment opportunities in rural areas to stimulate demand.

Mr. Xian Zhusaid that the programme will support the Government of India’s efforts in mitigating the adverse economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic and enable economic recovery in the rural areas through NRM works and employment generation. The funding under NDB’s Policy on fast-track emergency response to COVID-19 will help preserve rural income and sustain rural expenditure, resulting in increased demand that aids economic recovery.

The NDB was established based on the Inter-Governmental agreement among the BRICS countries (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa) signed on 15thJuly 2014. The purpose of the Bank is to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging market economies and developing countries. The $1 billion loan from the NDB has a tenor of 30 years, including a 5-year grace period.

19-Nov-2020: Government of India & NDB Sign Agreement for USD 500 Million to Provide Fast, Reliable, Safe and Comfortable Public Transport System in The National Capital Region

The Government of India, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited and the New Development Bank(NDB) today signed a loan agreement for lending USD 500 million for the ‘Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Project’ to provide fast, reliable, safe and comfortable public transport system in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The NCR is among the world’s largest urban agglomerations and a major economic centre of India. Due to lack of efficient public transport options, the number of private vehicles in NCR has increased. The daily passenger traffic along the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor in NCR is estimated at 0.69 million, of which 63% utilize private vehicles for commuting. Due to traffic congestion, it can take about 3 to 4 hours to travel between Delhi and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh by road during peak hours. Rapid growth in vehicular traffic has made NCR one of the most polluted regions in the world. By 2030, NCR is projected to become the most populous urban agglomeration in the world, which will increase pressure on basic infrastructure such as housing, water supply, electricity and transport.

Fast transit system will support in achieving the goal of sustainable urban development in NCR region including National Capital Territory of Delhi. It will activate processes which will enable sustainable economic and social development with environmental protection, for future generations. The environment friendly and very low emission RRTS will carry many times more people at high speed (average speed 100 kmph) while occupying just 3 m space on land thus reducing congestion on the roads. Overall it will significantly reduce the total emissions from the transport sector in NCR.

The agreement was signed by Shri Baldeo Purushartha, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India; Shri Janardan Prasad on behalf of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director on behalf of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited and Mr. Xian Zhu, Vice President, Chief Operations Officer on behalf of the NDB.

Shri Baldeo Purushartha, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs said “Seamless high speed connectivity will result in balanced economic development across the Region leading to economic benefits to all strata of society and many nodes of development rather than all economic activity happening at one place”.

Mr. Xian Zhu, Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, NDB said that “NDB funding will be provided to finance rolling stock for modern design, energy efficient operations and interoperability across corridors. NDB funds will also be utilized for procuring signalling, telecommunication and train control system with advanced features such as automatic train operation, automatic train protection, automatic train supervision and integration with platform screen doors. The Project can serve as a demonstration for developing high capacity rapid urban transit corridors in other urban areas of India.”

The total project cost is estimated at USD 3,749 million, which will be financed by the NDB (USD 500 million), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank  (USD 500 million), Asian Development Bank  (USD 1,049 million), Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (USD 3 million), and Government and Other sources (USD 1,707 million). The USD 500 million loan from the NDB has a tenor of 25 years with an 8-year grace period.

27-May-2020: FM Nirmala Sitharaman attends Special Board of Governors meeting of NDB through video-conference

Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman attended the Special Board of Governors meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) through video-conference.

The agenda included the election of next President of NDB, appointment of Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer and membership expansion.

In her opening remarks, the Finance Minister commended the contribution of NDB in funding the infrastructure development, which has positively impacted the development agenda of the member countries, including India. Within a short span of time, NDB has approved 55 projects of member countries for an amount of $16.6 billion, which is quite a remarkable achievement. Smt. Sitharaman also mentioned that the Bank has successfully created a niche for itself and proudly stands shoulder to shoulder with the peer MDBs.

The Finance Minister appreciated Mr. K. V Kamath, the outgoing President of NDB for his stellar stewardship in very quickly giving shape to the vision stated by the BRICS Leaders in 2014. The swift response to COVID-19 through launch of the COVID-19 Emergency Programme Loan product will be remembered as one of his contributions.

Finance Minister congratulated newly-elected President Mr. Marcos Troyjo from Brazil and newly-appointed Vice President and CRO, Mr. Anil Kishora from India. While congratulating them, Smt. Sitharaman remarked that she has great expectations from new leadership in continuing this momentum forward and taking NDB to the next level in terms of lending performance to members, transparency, international credibility and effectively achieving the NDB mandate. She suggested that, the focus should also be given to achieve the twin objective of preserving BRICS values and growing NDB into a global development institution.

21-Nov-2017: BRICS Bank approves $400 million loans for India, Russia

The Shanghai-based BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has approved two infrastructure and sustainable development projects in India and Russia with loans of $400 million.

The loans will be used to rehabilitate the Indira Gandhi canal system in India and to build a toll transport corridor connecting Ufa city centre to the M-5 federal highway in Russia.

The NDB was established to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, and the two projects approved today are fully in line with the bank’s mandate and national development plans of our member countries.

The NDB was set up with an initial authorized capital of $100 billion after leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) agreed on its establishment during the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in 2014.

The bank officially opened in 2015. NDB had approved seven projects in 2016 with a total worth of $1.5 billion. The bank said sustainable infrastructure development will be the primary emphasis of its operations in the next five years.

27-Sep-2017: Cabinet approves agreements

The Union Cabinet has given its approval to the signing of the (i) Interbank Local Currency Credit Line Agreement and (ii) Cooperation Memorandum Relating to Credit Ratings by Exim Bank with participating member banks under BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism. As both the Agreement and the MoU are umbrella pacts, and are non-binding in nature, the Board of Directors of Exim Bank has been authorized to negotiate and conclude any individual contracts and commitments within their framework.

Impact: The Agreements will promote multilateral interaction within the area of mutual interest which will deepen political and economic relations with BRICS nations.

Signing of the Agreement will position Exim Bank in the international platform along with large development finance institutions, like CDS, VEB and BNDES. At an appropriate time, Exim Bank, leveraging this umbrella agreement, could enter into bilateral agreement with any of these member institutions to raise resources for its business. As and when an opportunity arises for co-financing in commercial terms, by any two member institutions (say India and South Africa), lending in single currency by both the institutions would also be possible.

Background: Exim Bank finances, facilitates and promotes India's international trade. It provides competitive finance at various stages of the business cycle covering import of technology, export product development, export production and export credit at pre-shipment and post-shipment stages and investments overseas.

Interbank Local Currency Credit Line Agreement: The initial Master Agreement on Extending Credit Facility in Local Currency under the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism had a validity of five years, which has expired in March 2017. It is understood that some of the member banks (like CDB and VEB; CDB and BNDES) have entered into bilateral agreements for local currency financing under the Master Agreement signed in 2012. Although the current conditions are not conducive to usage, it was useful to keep the same alive as an enabling feature in case a suitable opportunity materializes in future. Exim Bank raises resources in the off-shore market in diverse currencies and swaps to mitigate the risk. The umbrella Agreement would serve as an enabler to enter into bilateral agreements with member banks subject to national laws, regulations and internal policies of the signatories.

Cooperation Memorandum Relating to Credit Ratings: It would enable sharing of credit ratings amongst the BRICS member banks, based on the request received from another bank. This would be an ideal mechanism to mitigate the credit risks associated with cross-border financing. In future, such a mechanism could also serve as pre-cursor to the proposal of having an alternate rating agency by BRICS nations.

The Agreement and the MoU have also been highlighted in the BRICS Leaders Xiamen Declaration made in Xiamen, China on 4th September 2017.

2-Sep-2017: 5 banks of BRICS nations sign pact for credit lines

Five banks of the BRICS Bank Cooperation Mechanism have agreed to establish credit lines in the national currencies and cooperate on credit ratings. Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), Vnesheconombank, Export-Import Bank of India, China Development Bank and Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) have signed an agreement to establish credit lines in the national currencies, as well as a memorandum of cooperation on credit ratings.

The agreement on credit ratings allows the ICM members to share information about internal credit ratings assigned to clients, as well as rating assessment and assignment methodologies. The use of local currencies will help promote mutually beneficial economic cooperation, mitigate currency risks, increase trade, and facilitate companies in accessing the BRICS markets.

The BRICS interbank cooperation mechanism: In order to develop and strengthen economic ties and investment cooperation between BRICS countries, in 2010 state financial institutions for development and export support of the BRICS nations entered into a Memorandum on cooperation, thus creating the BRICS interbank cooperation mechanism. One of the main purposes of cooperation is to set up a scheme designed to provide financing and banking services for future investment projects that could be beneficial for the economic development of the BRICS countries. On the basis of agreements that have been signed within the framework of the BRICS interbank cooperation mechanism, the member banks have taken steps towards developing multilateral financial cooperation within the BRICS countries and created basic mechanisms for settling payments and financing investment projects in local currencies.

17-Aug-2017: New BRICS bank plans $1.5 billion lending for South African projects

New Development Bank (NDB) set up by the “BRICS” group of emerging economies plans to lend $1.5 billion to South Africa for infrastructure projects over the next eighteen months. The bank also officially opened its African regional centre in Johannesburg.

It is a multilateral development bank operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). It seems as an alternative to the existing US-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The New Development Bank was agreed to by BRICS leaders at the 5th BRICS summit held in Durban, South Africa in 2013.

The bank is set up to foster greater financial and development cooperation among the five emerging markets. The bank will be headquartered in Shanghai, China. Unlike the World Bank, which assigns votes based on capital share, in the New Development Bank each participant country will be assigned one vote, and none of the countries will have veto power.

The New Development Bank will mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, to supplement existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development.

30-Mar-2017: Government inks $350 Mn loan pact with New Development Bank(NDB)

India signed its first loan agreement with the New Development Bank (NDB) for $350 million to be used in the development and upgradation of district roads in Madhya Pradesh.

The objective of the project is the upgradation of major district roads in the state of Madhya Pradesh to improve connectivity of the interior areas of the state with the national and state highway networks. The project would include upgradation, rehabilitation or reconstruction of approximately 1,500 km of district roads to intermediate lane, all-weather standards, with road safety features and improved road asset maintenance and management. The project is to be implemented over five years with the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation acting as the implementing agencies.

7-Feb-2022: Disinvestment of Air India completed

The strategic disinvestment transaction of Air India has been successfully completed on 27th January, 2022.

On the question of percentage of shared disinvested, the Minister stated that 100% shares of Air India (including 100% shares of its subsidiary, Air India Express Ltd (AIXL) and 50% shares of its JV, AISATS) have been disinvested.

The Minister further stated that with the disinvestment of Air India on 27.01.2022, there is no equity stake of Government of India left in Air India or AIXL and the airlines are now under the management control of the strategic buyer.

27-Jan-2022: Air India strategic disinvestment completed

The Air India strategic disinvestment transaction has been completed today with Government receiving a consideration of Rs 2,700 crore from the Strategic Partner (M/s Talace Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s Tata Sons Pvt Ltd), retaining debt of Rs 15,300 crore in Air India and AIXL and transferring shares of Air India (100% shares of Air India and its subsidiary AIXL and 50% shares of AISATS) to the Strategic Partner.

It is pertinent to mention that following Government’s approval of the highest price bid of M/s Talace Pvt Ltd for strategic disinvestment of Air India, the Letter of Intent was issued to the winning bidder on 11 October 2021. The Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) was signed on 25 October, 2021. Thereafter, Strategic Partner (M/s Talace Pvt Ltd), Air India and the Government worked towards satisfying a set of conditions precedent defined in the SPA including approvals from anti-trust bodies, regulators, lenders, third parties, etc. These conditions have since been met to mutual satisfaction.

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