Qatar Airways’ planned subsidiary in India is on hold due to regulations on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country.
CEO of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker noted that the airline could wait for rules on investment to become more ‘favorable’ before launching a subsidiary in India. He notes that the airline wishes to launch the business in the country but its rules on foreign investment seem ambiguous.
The Economic Times reported that Al Baker stated: “We are really very interested to launch an airline in India but the regulation is a little bit confusing to us”.
“Because what we gathered in the beginning is that foreigners could own 100% of a domestic Indian carrier. Our lawyers have gone and asked for the process of doing the application. And then we are told ‘no, as an airline you can only own 49%.”
The airline may wait up to 12 months for the environment to become more fertile for its investment.
