India Set to Privatize 11 Airports by 2025-26 to Boost Efficiency
The Indian government has announced plans to privatize 11 airports by the end of the 2025-26 financial year as part of its ongoing efforts to streamline the aviation sector and reduce its fiscal deficit. This ambitious move aligns with the government’s target to generate ₹47,000 crore from asset sales, which will help lower the current fiscal deficit standing at 4.4% of the GDP. The airports to be privatized include both high-traffic and struggling locations, marking the third round of airport privatization in India.
To attract private investors, the government is adopting a strategy of bundling underperforming airports with commercially successful ones. This means that airports like Varanasi, which performs well, will be packaged with less profitable airports such as Kushinagar and Gaya. Other regional groupings include Bhubaneswar and Amritsar being bundled with smaller airports like Hubli and Kangra, and Raipur and Tiruchirapalli combined with Aurangabad and Tirupati.
This approach is designed to offer private operators a balanced portfolio of profitable and underperforming assets, ensuring they can improve infrastructure and generate returns over time. The full list of airports earmarked for privatization includes Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Trichy, Indore, Raipur, Calicut, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Patna, Madurai, Surat, Ranchi, Jodhpur, Chennai, Vijayawada, Vadodara, Bhopal, Tirupati, Hubli, Imphal, Agartala, Udaipur, Dehradun, and Rajahmundry. Collectively, these airports handle a significant portion of India’s air traffic, including 13.5 million domestic passengers and 2.4 million international passengers in the first nine months of 2025.
This move is expected to enhance operational efficiency, improve passenger experience, and lead to better facilities at these airports. The privatization process is expected to attract major private players such as Adani Airport Holdings Ltd and GMR Airports Ltd, who have shown interest in managing airports. With their extensive experience in the aviation sector, these companies are well-positioned to take on the responsibility of revamping these airports and ensuring smooth operations.
While the move aims to improve the sector’s infrastructure and service standards, experts believe that the real challenge will lie in balancing the needs of the private operators with the broader public interest. The privatization drive has the potential to enhance airport management efficiency but will need careful monitoring to ensure that the needs of passengers, particularly in underserved regions, are not overlooked.
