GMR Group Can Now Operate Nagpur Airport

The GMR Group will now operate Nagpur Airport with the Supreme Court in favor of a decision denying cancellation of the bidding process of Nagpur airport.

MIHAN, a joint venture between the Maharashtra Airport Development Company and the Airport Authority of India, has appealed to the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court overturned the decision to withdraw the bidding process.

GMR Group operates airports in Delhi and Hyderabad and is also building Greenfield Airports in Goa and Bhogapuram, Andhra Pradesh. In October 2018, the group emerged as the winning bidder to operate and manage Nagpur Airport for 30 years, providing MIHAN with 5.7% of its total revenue.

The company also agreed to share more than 14% of gross revenue in post-bid negotiations and will have a 74% stake in the project. MIHAN also issued a letter of award to GMR in March 2019 after that.

The GMR Group moved to the Bombay High Court last year after MIHAN invalidated the award. In response to the petition, MIHAN claimed that he had never issued a certificate and that the March 2020 order only referred to acceptance of bids. He also stated that the award requires central government approval, which is pending.

GMR has said that it will increase the ultimate capacity of the airport to around 30 million passengers annually as part of its modernization plan of Nagpur’s Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.