Indian airport concessions set to restart; Bangalore Airport to join the fray as a bidder?

The long delayed third tranche of Indian airport privatisations is almost upon us, the Indian government presumably having learned from the first two rounds (2006 and 2020/2021), which did not always go to plan.

With the biggest airports already privatised by concession this third round will bring much smaller ones into play and as in Brazil they (11 in the first instance with up to 26 in total) will be 'bundled', the idea being to place smaller less appealing ones with more attractive bigger fish in the same shopping basket.

There are two possible eventualities to watch out for. Firstly if the Adani Group continues to gain dominance in the sector by taking on a bigger portfolio. Adani said a couple of years ago that it would be focusing on its existing estate but that might not be the case any longer.

Secondly, if foreign investors such as Fraport and Flughafen Zurich will return. Both have said they would in the right circumstances but the airports up for grabs may not be big enough for them and what share of the equity might they expect this time?

There are strong rumours that Bangalore Airport might make a bid but is it not the case it has more than enough on is plate already?

Finally, bigger airports like Chennai and Kolkata again do not figure this time for a variety of reasons that are explained in the text.