AI may get a shot in the arm soon

Prime minister assures that EGoM on AI's turnaround will take "expeditious decisions"

sweta-ranjan

Sweta Ranjan | June 30, 2011



Air India (AI) may soon get another equity infusion of Rs 1,200 crore from the government. Prime minister Manmohan Singh told a group of editors on Wednesday that he would take all possible measures to revamp the ailing carrier.

Singh said that he would ask finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the group of ministers (GOM) working on AI's turnaround, to take "expeditious decisions" to save AI.

The prime minister said, "We will resolve the issues surrounding Air India. I will request Pranab Mukherjee to take expeditious decisions in the matter".

The GoM, last week, had said that the cash-strapped airline needed another equity infusion of Rs 1,200 crore. The government has already made equity infusions of Rs 2,000 crore in 2009-2010. But the airline may need as much as Rs 5,000 crore for a complete turnaround.

Kamaljeet Ratan, a spokesman of Air India, said that the revival of airline will happen soon and the company will earn back its lost reputation. He said that AI is working to prepare a resource generation plan and implement the turnaround programme.

Finance minister Mukherjee, at a meeting on June 22, had also said that a committee would be set up to examine the turnaround and financial restructuring plans. He had also assured that the committee would chalk out a plan to streamline and restructure the huge debt of Rs 40,000 crore.

Air India is saddled with a debt of about Rs 40,000 crore, of which Rs 18,000 crore are working capital loans taken from a consortium of banks and the remaining amount of loans is towards payment of new aircraft ordered.
 

Comments

 

Other News

How social media is reshaping elections

Since Brazil’s return to direct presidential elections in 1985, no candidate who finished second in the first round of polling had ever won the presidency. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, now 81, has just done it. What explains the comeback, and what changed in Brazilian politics to make it possi

Cabinet approves Dearness Allowance, Dearness Relief

The union cabinet chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from 01.07.2026 representing an increase of 3% over the existing rates of 6

Cyclone Arnab strikes Andhra as warming oceans amplify storm risks

Cyclone Arnab made landfall along the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts in the early hours of Wednesday as a very severe cyclonic storm, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 125–135 kmph and gusts reaching 150 kmph. Its rapid intensification has raised concerns about how warmer oceans, global warmin

Counting matters but which ones?

The first instinct of public policy is to count. Its harder task is to count what counts. We have become remarkably good at measuring the reach of the welfare state vis-à-vis beneficiaries covered, rupees transferred, houses built, connections installed and services delivered. But some of the most

Inching closer to a trade deal with America

The cooperation between India and the United States goes back quite a time. We need to relegate that era to the backburner when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited US in the times of president Dwight Eisenhower and called the American let-off of 10 million dollars in defence aid to Pakistan as a “gun w

Manch vs Musk: Forty people and a foreign billionaire

About forty people walked the roundabout on Teen Murti Marg to the gate of Chanakyapuri police station, a distance you could cover in under a minute, on Friday to protest against Elon Musk’s Starlink. The walk was called by the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. Nobody joined them on the way, and nobody seeme

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter