NEW DELHI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- India's national carrier Air India has failed to attract any buyer after the country's government put it on sale.

"We were looking forward for better participation," India's Civil Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey told the media, after a deadline for expressions of interest for the ailing carrier's controlling stake of 76 percent ended Thursday evening.

Among the riders for sale of the carrier was that potential buyers would have to take on about five billion U.S. dollars of debt as well as its 27,000 employees. The Indian government has also said it will retain the remaining stake in the carrier.

Air India was, in fact, started by the Tata Group, one of the country's largest industrial houses, in 1932 as Tata Airlines. After Independence, the group joined hands with the Indian government in 1948 to fly the airline, which was fully nationalised five years later.

For the past decade, the airline has not been able to churn out any operating profit.?