Tata Singapore Airline Joint Venture get FIPB clearance

The Tata-Singapore Airlines (SIA) joint venture full service airline will soon take to the skies. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Thursday cleared this proposal in which Tatas will have 51% stake, investing $51 million initially, and SIA will have 49% share and invest $49 million to begin with. Economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters that the deal was cleared without any riders for the proposed Delhi-based airline. Tata-SIA will now require security clearance from the home ministry along with nods from first the aviation ministry and then a licence from the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA). A Tata Group spokesman said: "We are yet to formally hear from the FIPB. We are delighted with the reports of approval. As and when the formal approval comes, we will progress with the subsequent stages of the process." However desperate to shrug off charges of inertia, UPA-II is keen that the airline starts within its remaining term. Tata-SIA had applied to FIPB on September 19 and got the same in just over a month. "Tata-AirAsia application for starting a low cost airline had to wait for a longer time to get FIPB nod which they got on March 6, 2013. The ministry approved it last month and now the DGCA is in the process of issuing it the licence that may happen by December. So the entire process from filing for FIPB nod to actually start flying for Tata-AirAsia will have taken about a year. We hope to expedite the process for Tata SIA," said sources. Thursday's nod is the third clearance to FDI in airline sector after UPA-II last September decided to allow foreign airlines to pick up to 49% stake in desi carriers. Apart from Tata Sons tie-ups to form an LCC and full service carrier, Abu Dhabi's Etihad was allowed to pick 24% stake in Jet Airways. It is for the first time that cash-strapped Indian airlines are getting access to deep pocket funding.