CPI-M warns against FDI in aviation sector

Even as the government mulls allowing FDI in the aviation sector in the wake of a huge cash crunch in Kingfisher Airlines, CPI-M today said it is opposed to the idea as this would eventually lead to Indian carriers going into foreign hands.

CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat claimed his party's views on the issue were related not just to one specific airline but to the issue of Foreign Direct Investment as a whole.

"As a policy we do not want FDI in the form of foreign airline buying into Indian airlines. The logic of that will be that those airlines will eventually go into the hands of the foreign airline," Karat told reporters.

He insisted that for CPI-M it was not the quantum of the investment that was the issue but the concept itself.

"I am not interested in whether FDI is 24 or 26 per cent," Karat said.

The government is said to be exploring options of allowing FDI in the aviation sector. Both the Left parties and the BJP are opposed to any bail-out of Kingfisher Airlines by the government.

Karat said if at all the government takes steps for a bailout package to the cash-strapped private carrier, it should not be with public money.

"I hope these steps will not be at the expense of the public funds," he said, adding that his party feels there should be no subsidy for the rich.