Air India seeks SOS fund from Indian Government |
India`s Cash-strapped national carrier Air India has sought immediate emergency funding of about 348 million dollars from the government as debt. This fiscal the divestment bound airline, which has accumulated debt-cum-liabilities of almost 8.3 billion dollars, has not got any equity support from the Central government and is now finding it hard to meet working expenses. Last October, the government had approved giving Air India sovereign guarantee to enable it to raise 1 billion dollars. We raised about 700 million dollars as debt. Now guarantee of 343 million dollars is remaining and we have been requesting the government to give us those funds as debt,” said an official. The airline said in a statement, “In the absence of equity support, Air India cannot handle the huge debt service liabilities. However, our financial performance this fiscal is very good and we are moving towards a healthy operating profit. The airline, despite its legacy issues, is performing very well.” The government is working out the modalities of the second attempt that will soon be made to sell off Air India after the first round last year came a cropper.
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