New Delhi, Apr 7 (IANS): The Central government plans to off-load 76 per cent stake and management control of Air India through the divestment process, a senior Finance Ministry official said on Friday.

"With all humility, I would like to say, people have not gone through the EoI (Expression of Interest) properly," Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Neeraj Gupta said to a query at the 13th edition of CNBC-TV18 'India Business Leader Awards' about the government retaining a 24 per cent stake after the divestment of the airline.

"It very clearly says, we are transferring full management control to a 76 per cent stake. This 24 per cent stake is not really indicating any sort of indirect management, intervention or control in the new entity."

On March 28, the government issued the Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) for the strategic divestment of AI, along with the airline's shares in Air India Express (AIXL) and AISATS (Air India SATS Airport Services).