Government bound to revive Air India: Official
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The government is committed to revive the cash-strapped national carrier, Air India, a senior civil aviation ministry official was quoted saying.”The government is committed to Air India. We are bound by that commitment to revive Air India,” Nasim Zaidi, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, was reported saying to reporters, Economic Times reported.According to him, the national carrier’s INR40,000 crore worth of debt would be cleared in a time-bound manner, though he did not specify a timeframe.Currently, the airline, laden with a cumulative debt of INR40,000 crore it incurred over aircraft acquisition and as short-term loans to maintain its operations, expects a fresh equity infusion of INR.1,200 crore in July. The report said the carrier was also seeking a total infusion of INR.17,000 crore, which includes INR.5,000 crore for this fiscal year alone. Air India’s turnaround plan (TAP) and financial restructuring plan (FRP), which have been prepared by the State Bank of India’s financial advisory arm SBI Caps, are under review of a group of ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The GoM is expected to meet July 18,the paper said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said he has asked the ministerial group overseeing the turnaround of the debt-ridden national carrier to come out with their recommendations fast. “I will request (Finance Minister) Pranab Mukherjee to take expeditious decisions in the (Air India turnaround) matter,” the prime minister had told a group of editors on 29 June.The plan envisages further equity inclusion, conversion of short-term loans into long-term debt and hiving-off the company’s maintenance and ground-handling arms.
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