NEW DELHI: The national carrier has brought back over 2.5 million people of Indian origin to the country so far, as part of the Vande Bharat mission. Private carriers too have pitched in, says Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Speaking to StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale, Puri defended attempts to privatise Air India, saying he’s convinced that is a good thing to do as governments shouldn’t be running airlines which is a cutthroat business. Air India is a first rate asset and has excellent staff, the minister said, adding that it has a cumulative debt of ₹60,000 crore and “we need to put in ₹6,000-7,000 crore a year to keep it afloat”.
