Announcing this in the House during question hour, Minister for Civil Aviation Ananth Kumar said the Airport Authority of India had received bids in 1995 in response to its advertisement for consultants and consolidators to assist in running of duty free shops at the country's five international airports.

These bids have now been finally examined and AAI is renegotiating with the bidders, the minister said in reply to a question.

The duty free shops being run by ITDC has a turnover of Rs 75 crore, but the revenue incurred by AAI was only Rs 7.5 crore, the minister said. Through the new bids, AAI plans to earn Rs 50 crore, he said.