Banks
on Saturday stepped up pressure on beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), stating it needed to have a
capital of at least Rs 2,000 crore if it wanted to revive itself.
“The company has to bring in a minimum
capital of Rs 2,000 crore. Only then can there be some possibility… (of
revival),” said Pratip Chaudhuri, chairman,
State Bank of India ( SBI). “Talks are on, but
there has been no progress yet.” Yesterday, bankers had met the KFA management
in yet another inconclusive meeting. “If the company doesn’t wish to fly, what
can banks do about it?” said Chaudhuri. “Till the company brings money from its
own capital, I don’t think anything can happen. The solution has to come from
the company,” he said.
indicating banks
won’t fund KFA till the company brings in some amount from its own funds. On
taking legal recourse and realisation of assets, Chaudhuri said, “If you
enforce the assets, whatever remaining hopes are there will also disappear,”
Earlier, Kingfisher had given a revival
plan to the the Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA), which included a
limited restart of operations with Rs 650 crore of capital which promoter Vijay
Mallya had promised to bring from his own sources.
However, DGCA wasn’t impressed and had
asked KFA to bring ‘No Objection Certificates’ (NOCs) from various agencies
including the lenders. While KFA has reportedly got NOCs from oil companies and
lessors, lenders haven’t issued one. Last year in November, Pratip Chaudhuri
had asked the management to put $1 billion as capital.
KFA has been grounded since October,
following a strike by its engineers over delayed payment of salaries. DGCA
suspended its operating permit in the same month. Banks have an exposure of
about Rs 7,500 crore to the airline which has been a non-performing asset for
the last one year. SBI has the highest exposure of about Rs 1,200 crore to the
airline.
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