Who is Vikram Dev Dutt? Here's all about Air India's new Chairman and MD

Vikram Dev Dutt was appointed as the new Chairman and managing director (CMD) of the loss-making national carrier Air India, which is all set to be handed over to Tata Sons, by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on Tuesday. Presently, he is the Principal Secretary (Tourism) in the Delhi government.

He takes over the role from Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal and will be in the helm position till Air India is handed over to the Tata Sons. 

Who is Air India's new CMD Vikram Dev Dutt?

A 1993-batch IAS officer of AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre, Dutt is at present Principal Secretary (Tourism) in the government in the national capital. He has been promoted and appointed as the CMD of Air India in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary.

Dutt had also served as principal secretary in the Delhi government's Health and Family Welfare Department. He has also served as principal secretary (Finance) in Andaman and Nicobar Islands government, Secretary (Tourism) Goa government, and Managing Director (MD) in India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC).

Meanwhile, it was not immediately clear when Dutt's appointment was an indication of a possible delay in handing over Air India to the Tata Group. In October 2021, Tata Sons had won the bid to acquire Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Tata Sons, which originally launched Air India in 1932, had placed a bid under its fully-owned subsidiary Talance Pvt Ltd for Rs 18,000 crore.

The Tata Group were up against SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh led consortium who had bid for Rs 15,110 crore. As of August 31, 2021, the national carrier's total debt was Rs 61,562 crore. According to DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the debt of the airline taken over Talance is Rs 15,000 while the remaining dept will go to Air India Asset Holding limited. 

Under the divestment terms, Tata Sons will retain Rs 15,300 crore debt and pay Rs 2,700 crore to the central government of the total 18,000 price. According to conditions arrived in October, all handover formalities should be completed within eight weeks of time but the date can be manually extended by the buyer and seller.