Nirmala Sitharaman announces auction of six airports on PPP basis, promises more world class aerodromes in India

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today, while announcing the fourth tranche of the stimulus package first revealed by PM Narendra Modi, said that there will be more world-class airports coming to India. She said that to make more such airports available in India, six airports will be auctioned under PPP (public private partnership) model. She said that Airport Authority of India (AAI) has been entrusted with the responsibility of holding the auction.

Speaking at her press conference in New Delhi today, FM Nirmala Sitharaman said, "More World-class Airports through PPP (Public Private Partnership) model will be made in India. In this mission, another 6 airports will be put out for the third round of bidding." She said that AAI has awarded 3 out of these 6 bids for operations and maintenance on PPP basis.  

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Also, she said an additional investment of Rs 13,000 crore will be made by private players in 12 airports auctioned in first and second rounds.

FM also said tax regime for aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) has been rationalised. Aircraft component repair and airframe maintenance are expected to increase from Rs 800 crore to Rs 2,000 crores in three years, she added. 

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More World-class #Airports through #PPP: Another 6 airports will be put out for the third round of bidding. #AatmaNirbharEconomy pic.twitter.com/v2hzNoL4Sw

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 16, 2020

Sitharaman said annual revenue of the six airports would be around Rs 1,000 crore while the current profit is about Rs 540 crore per year. Besides, AAI would get a down payment of Rs 2,300 crore. Six more airports have been identified for bidding out and the bid process would commence immediately.

These airports are those at Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy, according to an official.

Last year, the government bid out six airports -- Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati -- for operation, management and development through PPP model. Another six airports will be put out for the third round of bidding, Sitharaman added.

State-owned AAI manages more than 135 airports and nearly 110 of them are operational.

Nirmala Sitharaman made these announcements while providing the road map for the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package for the Indian economy that is expected to kick-start businesses post-lockdown. Today, the focus was on the eight sectors that included coal, minerals, defence production, airspace management, MROs, power distribution companies, space sectors and atomic energy.