(FE)
Despite having a colossal debt of Rs 82,810 crore on its book, the Adani group bid aggressively for privatisation of five airports, winning all of them. The bids were put out by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which at present manages the airports concerned.
Adani Enterprises, the flagship entity of the group, on Monday bagged the rights to operate, manage and develop airports at Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore by offering the highest per-passenger fee (PPF). PPF is paid by the developer to state-owned AAI for every domestic and international passenger handled at the airport.
This mode of privatisation is different from the way the Delhi and Mumbai airports were privatised in 2006. Here the GMR and the GVK group, who handle the two airports respectively, have entered into a 74:26 JV with AAI and share a percentage of their gross revenue with the latter. For instance, GMR shares 45.9% and GVK 38.7% of its revenue with AAI.
