Air India’s debt restructuring given three options
Officials met yesterday (Thursday, January 19) to assess the debt of Air India and devise three options to restructure the airline.
Firstly, with the approval of the Reserve Bank of India, Air India’s debt could be given Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) status, under which its debt would be converted to government guaranteed bonds. The second option is to cover 40 per cent of the debt with an SLR and the rest with a long-term loan. Lastly, the banks and government may choose to convert all debt to a long-term loan at an interest rate of 11 to 11.5 per cent. The government would again act as guarantee. The restructure must be finalised by March or the airline’s loans will be deemed non-performing.
