The government of India is planning to monetize 25 Airports Authority India (AAI) managed airports including Chennai, Nagpur, Varanasi, and Bhubaneshwar over the next four years. This move is expected to bring an investment of Rs 20,782 crores.
Under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) which was unveiled on Monday, divestment of AAI residual stake in four airports of JVs is also being considered. Under NMP, the government has identified 13 sectors that could monetize their assets, airport being one of them.
This will see divestment from privately operated airports in Mumbai (26 percent stake), Delhi (26 percent stake), Hyderabad (13 percent stake), and Bangalore (13 percent stake).
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The total airport assets amount to 18 percent of the overall airport assets under the management of AAI, whose monetization is estimated to be a total of Rs 20,782 crore for FY 2022-25. The AAI manages 137 airports, including 24 international airports, 10 customs airports, and 103 domestic airports.
The airports' sector contributes 4 percent to the overall Rs 6 lakh crore NMP unveiled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday.
"The larger objective is to focus on monetization of these 25 airports, while bundling of smaller airports may be explored based on market testing of transactions and investor feedback," the NMP document issued by the government said.
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The AAI has identified six airports in Tier2/3 cities for monetization through brownfield PPP models during the current fiscal year. These include Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipur, and Trichy.
"To ensure commensurate development of non-profitable airports along with the profitable airports with the help of private sector investment and participation, pairing /clubbing of smaller airports with each of the six bigger airports and leasing out as a package is being explored," the document said.
For the fiscal year 2022-23, Calicut, Coimbatore, Madurai, Jodhpur are among the eight airports listed for monetization. Meanwhile, monetization of bigger ones like Chennai and Vadodara is expected in the 2023-24 fiscal. Dehradun, Agartala, and Udaipur will be taken up in the last phase in the 2024-25 fiscal
