INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
contingency plan which includes taking the company to Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), sources said.Industry insiders told IANS in Mumbai that
all efforts are on to see that the stake sale process goes through as planned and is successfully implemented, however, DRT remains as "the
This is the natural progression of recovery, if the stake sale process fails," a senior banking industry source told IANS."The company owns
16 aircraft and some assets which have already been pledged."The DRT facilitates the recovery of debt involving banks and other financial
institutions with their customers
Approaching the DRT, as a last option is a major departure from the earlier speculation that the airline will be taken to the NCLT (National
Company Law Tribunal).The airline owes over Rs 8,000 crore to its lenders.At present, lenders are keen to complete the stake sale process in
a time-bound manner."We have some serious and interested bidders
We expect to receive the binding bids by May 10
There is no talk of lenders taking a haircut or a minimum threshold level that will be accepted," another source said.On Jet's temporarily
grounded status and re-allocation of its lucrative time slots at the airport, sources in Delhi said: "These re-allocations are just for
This is an interim arrangement
By the end of this re-allocation period, the whole stake sale process would also be completed.""Even if the slots are re-allocated for three
months, the value of the company will not diminish
trying to facilitate the process, so that some funds can be made available to the airline and that under the wet-lease formula, a few pilots
and cabin crew are retained."Last Thursday, briefing the media, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said that "280 slots in
Mumbai and more than 160 slots in Delhi" are left vacant after Jet's temporarily grounding.These slots will be re-allocated by a committee
comprising airport operators, Airport Authority of India and Directorate General of Civil Aviation.In addition, banking insiders rebutted
allegations that bankers are reluctant to provide further funding to the airline."Banks have tried their best to support the airline, but
any interim funding would have met with a legal challenge as the account had turned into an NPA and they would have come back again to ask
Airways announced temporary suspension of all flight services as it failed to secure interim funding from lenders to maintain even bare
minimum operations.Get the latest election news, live updates and election schedule for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on
TheIndianSubcontinent.com/elections
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates from each of the 543 parliamentary seats for the 2019 Indian general
