Multiple floors of the iconic building, which boasts of being India's first structure with an escalator, have been rented out by Air India after the flag carrier shifted its headquarters to Delhi in 2013
In a bid to garner funds, the government has set up an evaluation panel to sell the iconic Air India building at Nariman Point in Mumbai, media reports have suggested.
Reports suggest that talks are already underway to sell the prime property with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
According to a report by The Economic Times, the ailing carrier is being kept afloat by the 23-storey building in Mumbai.
Earning an annual rent of Rs 100 crore, the building provides key revenue to keep operations of the national carrier running. The amount is nearly half of the total monthly salary bill of the flag carrier’s 21,000 employees, the report added.
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The building also boasts of being India's first structure with an escalator.
Air India shifted its headquarters from the building to Delhi around five years ago. The airline had retained the first three floors, along with the 21st, 22nd and 23rd floors. All other floors have been leased out for the last five years, except for the ground floor which has been vacant since January this year, when the Bharatiya Mahila Bank moved out, the report suggested.
Earlier this month, the government had decided not to go ahead with the national carrier’s stake sale in an election year and said it would provide required funds for its operations.
The decision came less than three weeks after the proposed 76 percent strategic stake sale in the debt-laden airline failed to attract any bidder.
Air India will very soon get funds from the government for its day-to-day operations and will even place orders for a couple of aircraft.