The Central government is set to sell its residual stake in already privatised Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports.

This is a part of the ambitious Rs 2.5 lakh crore asset monetisation pipeline identified to raise additional resources.

Sale of Airport Authority of India’s remaining stake in the four airports as also 13 more airports have been identified for privatisation in 2021-22 fiscal.

"The issue is likely to go to the Cabinet for approval in the next few days," reported varindia.com.

It may be mentioned here that the AAI, which works under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, owns and manages more than 100 airports across the country.

ALSO READ | Conrad Sangma Calls On Nirmala Sitharaman

The Adani Group holds a 74 per cent stake in Mumbai International Airport and the remaining 26 per cent stake is with AAI.

In Delhi International Airport, GMR Group holds 54 per cent, while the Airports Authority of India holds 26 per cent, and Fraport AG and Eraman Malaysia hold 10 per cent stake each.

In Hyderabad International Airport, the AAI along with the Andhra Pradesh government holds a 26 per cent stake.

It holds a similar stake in Bangalore International Airport along with the Karnataka government.

It may be mentioned here that the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2021-22 Budget speech said monetising operating public infrastructure assets is a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction.

"A National Monetisation Pipeline of potential brownfield infrastructure assets will be launched and an asset monetisation dashboard will also be created for tracking the progress and to provide visibility to investors," she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in February 2020 said that the government is targeting monetising 100 assets such as oil and gas pipelines, which can draw a massive Rs 2.5 lakh crore rupees.