New Delhi, Aug 25 (IANS): The Centre on Tuesday extended the deadline for submitting the bids to buy 100 per cent stake in national carrier Air India to October 30 from August 31.

The extension was made via the eighth corrigendum to the global invitation for Expression of Interest (EoI) for the proposed divestment of Air India, which was issued by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

According to the corrigendum, the changes have been made as per the requests received from the interested bidders "in view of the prevailing situation arising out of Covid-19".

As per the preliminary information memorandum (PIM) issued in January, the date for submitting the bid was March 17, 2020.

It was subsequently extended several times. The last date for submission was August 31.

Similarly, the deadlines announcing the name of those short-listed have also been extended.

The new date for announcement of short-listed bidders is November 20.