Mumbai: Having failed in its plans to rent out the iconic 23-storey building in the megapolis which till recently was its headquarters, state-run Air India has now put some of its residential properties under the hammer.
The national airline has floated bids for e-auctioning of the four flats at the posh Sterling Apartments on the Peddar Road in south Mumbai, measuring around 8,100 sqfeet carpet area, as well as a residential plot in Gurgaon in Haryana.
“Air India proposes to sell its residential properties located at prime locations in Mumbai and Gurgaon through e-auction process,” says the bid document posted on the airline's website.
The properties which have been proposed to be under the hammer are the four 3-BHK flats, each measuring 2,033 sqft carpet area located at Sterling Apartments on the Peddar Road and a residential plot measuring 420 sq meters at DLF Phase III in Gurgaon, Air India said.
As per the financial restructuring and turnaround plan approved by the Cabinet in early 2012, when it had bailed out the carrier with Rs 30,000 crore in doles, Air India is required to raise Rs 5,000 crore over the next 10 years through asset monetisation and its biggest asset is the iconic Air India building in the tony Nariman Point area of the city. However, the plans hit a stonewall on pricing, as companies are reluctant to pay the rentals being sought by the airline.
So far, the airline has managed to lease out only four floors, measuring 54,000 sqft, of the 23-storey building to the State Bank.
