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While a whole host of private sector companies entered the booming aviation business in India in the last three years, the country's top business house Tatas were missing in action. This is despite the fact that Tatas owned Tata Airlines (set up in 1932), the previous avtar of Air India. Its joint venture plans with Singapore Airlines also did not take off. But now it looks like Tatas also want a share of the pie - especially in the domestic aviation business.

The Mumbai-based business house is believed to picking up 10 per cent stake in the low-cost airline SpiceJet.

The investment will be made through Tata group’s financial arm Ewart Investments, and may be worth about Rs 100 crore ($22.5 million), reports The Economic Times. The SpiceJet board is meeting in Delhi on Monday to consider the allotment of preference shares to Ewart. The transaction may be done at a price close to Rs 51 per share. On Friday, SpiceJet shares closed at Rs 53.45, up about 5 per cent. It looks like the market had a wind of the deal.

Tata's investment is reportedly a financial one, and not strategic. So going by that, Tatas are not really entering the aviation business, but is acting like a private equity player. Ewart Investments is a subsidiary of Tata Sons.

In a related development, SpiceJet is planning to raise about $60 million from private equity firms. So Tata's investment is only part of it, and more is to come. SpiceJet had raised $70 million through an FCCB issue. Last December, Istithmar PJSC, the private equity arm of the government of Dubai, also picked up 3.3 per cent stake in the company for around $50 million.