INDIA. Airports Authority of India has extended the deadlines for the duty free tenders at ten airports, originally announced in May.
Shops at Kolkata, Chennai, Trivandrum, Goa, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Calicut, Amritsar and Gaya are all up for tender. Interested parties can bid for any or all of the airport retail opportunities. The stores are currently run by India Tourism Development Corp (ITDC).
Despite the complexities of the business, the bids are certain to attract the attention of many of the industry’s leading retailers.
Sale of the tender documents has now been extended from 26 June to 25 July. Bids must be in by 3p.m. on 26 July (extended from 5 July) and the technical bids will be opened one hour later. The date of the opening of the financial bids has still to be finalised.
The potential of some of the contracts is clouded by wider developments in India’s airport sector. Bangalore and Hyderabad airports, for example, have both been privatized, with new airports to open in early 2008. This suggests that the actual operations of duty free at Bangalore and Hyderabad as included in this tender could last just over a year.
Chennai is also expected to come up for privatisation, thus possibly disrupting the duration of operations. However such factors are unlikely to dampen interest given the boom in Indian air travel.
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