Notably, Etihad currently owns 24% of Indian carrier Jet Airways, which has explicitly pulled out of the race to bid for Air India. Jet Airways' deputy chief executive officer Amit Agarwal told PTI that while it's a bold step by the government to divest stake in Air India, considering the terms of offer in the information memorandum and based on its review, Jet Airways will not be participating in the process. While Reuters had earlier reported that Tata Group will not be bidding for Air india due to onerous terms and conditions, N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons told CNBC TV18 that any decision to bid for Air India will be made by the middle of May."There is a deadline which extends till, I think, middle of May, so I will leave it at that," he told the channel. While these foreign carriers seem interested in buying a stake, the domestic carriers have stayed away due to various reasons including the debt and labour.