Civil Aviation Ministry, DIAL refute CAG's findings

The Ministry "strongly refutes the loss figures and other allegations made in the report" and the calculation of "presumptive gain from the commercial use of land at Delhi Airport was totally erroneous and misleading," an official statement said.

Asked about the report, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said "it is not for us to comment or say whether we accept it or not. The report will go to the Public Accounts Committee which will take a decision."

The Ministry statement said that in the calculation, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) "simply adds the nominal value of the projected revenue, without taking the net present value. In fact the net present value of the figure quoted by CAG is Rs 13,795 crore only. CAG has further failed to
appreciate that 46% of this amount would be payable to AAI as revenue share."

It said the views of the Ministry and Airports Authority of India (AAI) had not been incorporated in the report and "there are aspects mentioned in the final report which were neither included in the draft audit report nor were discussed
with the Ministry at any point in time."

In a statement, the GMR-led Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) asserted it had "not received any undue benefit from the government before, during or after the bidding process".

It said the entire process of privatisation and selection of the joint venture was based on "a transparent,international competitive bidding which was guided and presided over by competent bodies and has been upheld as such by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in 2006."