Tuesday, July 25 2006 12:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Premier consultancy firm Accenture and its partner Ambit Corporate Finance have been selected to prepare a roadmap for the merger of public sector carriers, Air India and the Indian.

"This was decided at a meeting of the Air India Board sub-committee here today, airline" sources said.

Accenture and Ambit were among seven consultant consortia who had made presentations before the Board sub-committee.

The Air India Board sub committee, which met a couple of times last month, had reviewed the expression of interest received from these parties.

Besides Accenture, two more consortia were shortlisted after the presentations. They were ICICI Securities in association with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, NM Rothschild & Sons, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation and MV Kini & Co and JM Morgan Stanley and AT Kearney with Amarchand Mangaldas.

Air-India Chairman and Managing Director V Thulasidass had earlier said that the consultant would be given three months to prepare the roadmap.

The consultant would also suggest whether, how and when the public sector airlines would enter the market by issuing an Initial Public Offer (IPO) to raise resources.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said that a decision for merger of the two state-owned carriers was taken keeping in view the global aviation scenario and the increasingly competitive environment in this part of the world.