Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

R Venkataramanan, the managing trustee of TATA Trusts and S Ramadorai, who was former CEO of Tata Consultancy Services(TCS), announced their exit from budget carrier AirAsia India by selling their 1.5% and 0.5% stake respectively.

With the new deal in place, Tata Sons becomes the majority stake-holder in the AirAsia with 51% stake in the airlines.

The developments comes few days after the resignation of R Venkataramanan from the position of Managing Trustee of Tata Trusts. After allegations of violation in Income Tax. Last year in march CBI initiated an inquiry against him and few other top executives in a bribery case

As per the case, Venketaramanan, bribed government official to tweak the 5/20 rule in their favour so that AirAsia India (owned by Tata Group) can start its international operations. The aforementioned rule mandates the Airline to have at least 20 planes and 5 years of domestic experience to start international operations. So, this change in share holding structure is seen as a aftermath of the inquiries initiated against Venketaramanan.

As per people, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, is planning restructuring of Tata Group and its 1000 plus odd subsidaries and according to that plan Tata Sons will now be focusing more on its Aviation Business which is trailing behind due to stiff competition in the Indian aviation space. The Indian Conglomerate already owns majority stake in Vistara Airlines and is also in talks with Naresh Goyal led Jet Airways. So, the recent change in AirAsia’s stake can be part of that bigger plan too.

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