Into the centre of the long-running saga of Air India, an unlikely figure has emerged with the ambition to pilot the airline. Meenakshi Mallik, who serves as director (commercial) and has worked at the airline for 31 years, is the face behind the employees’ bid to acquire Air India. Mallik and 218 other employees have placed an expression of interest to bid for the airline. Tata group and a US-based fund (run by executives of Indian origin) named Interups have also submitted EoIs. Early in January, the government will announce the parties who have qualified for the bid. The actual battle for the airline will play out subsequently.
But how does Mallik plan to acquire a mammoth airline saddled with biblical amounts of debt with a band of colleagues? The answer has two parts. One is to partner with a private equity fund that will finance the bid while letting employees retain control of the airline. Second is that the support of the employees will be the biggest political hurdle in the privatization bid. Partly due to this, the government has built in adequate provisions into the PIM to allow an employees-led consortium to take control of the airline.
Courtesyg: Google (photo)
