Airport Privatization Plan In Flight Mode By The Government

India has restarted privatizing 13 airports to boost revenues from asset monetization. The Government plans to complete the process by FY26, targeting INR 10 crore worth of assets in five years. However, private equity investors may show limited interest due to the small size of airports being privatized alongside less profitable ones.  

India has returned to privatizing 13 airports as the Government aims to shore up revenues from asset monetization. People aware of the development said that the civil aviation ministry had circulated a note on inter-ministerial consultation on privatizing 13 airports. They said the Government aims to complete the process by the end of FY26.

During the budget presented on February 1, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that INR10 lakhs crore worth of assets would be monetized in the next five years as a second instalment of the National Monetisation Plan. Under the National Monetisation Plan, the Centre has embarked on 25 airports for asset monetization from 2022 to 2025 under the National Monetisation Pipeline. The Airport Authority of India board cleared the names of 13 airports for the second round of airport privatization under the BJP government in 2021. Following that, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has prepared a Cabinet. However, the list was reduced to 11 airports as the Madhya Pradesh government objected to privatizing Raipur and Indore airports.

For the first time, the Government has clubbed seven smaller and six big airports for privatization. Following that, Varanasi was clubbed with Kushinagar and Gaya, Amritsar with Kangra Bhubaneshwar with Tirupati Raipur and Aurangabad, Indore with Jabalpur and Tiruchirappalli with Hubli.

The previous National Democratic Alliance government took the step after it faced criticism that privatizing profit airports is saddling AAI with economically unviable airports and fostering monopoly in the sector. The Government plans to rewrite how airports have been privatized in the country.

"The finance ministry has suggested that all ministries related to prepare a list of infrastructure project pipelines for the next three years. This is expected to shake up slow investments in the public-private partnership route. Airport monetization is a key part of that plan," a senior government official said.

However, executives of infrastructure companies and private equity funds that ET spoke to said there might be muted interest in binding for the airports unless the Government fastens the deal. They noted that the size of airports being taken up for privatization is below, which means interest from investors will be limited. Clubbing them with unviable airports will make them more unattractive.

"Private equity investors want up-and-running assets which they can run efficiently and give a return. They are not in the business of developing assets," said a manager of a private equity fund that has invested in infrastructure assets in India.

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