Govt owes Rs 150 cr to Air India

Various ministries and government agencies owe close to Rs 150 crore to cash-strapped airline Air India, the government said today.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Civil Aviation Minister Vyalar Ravi said that as on March 31, 2011, the outstanding amount due from various ministries and agencies to Air India stood at Rs 146.12 crore.

The External Affairs Ministry owes Rs 25.98 crore, the Defence Ministry owes Rs 32.07 crore and the Home Ministry owes Rs 28.35 crore, among others, to the state-run carrier.

"The delay in payment was due to the non-availability of sufficient amounts in the Budget of those Ministries and other procedural delays in the processing of these bills," Ravi said.

He added that Air India has decided to raise the invoices expeditiously and pursue the matter with the respective Ministries for early payment.

Ravi further said that in 2010-11, Rs 40.46 crore was received for wide-body aircraft, while Rs 180.85 crore was collected for narrow-body aircraft.

In a written reply to another query, Ravi said that an amount of Rs 94 crore was due from the Centre on account of the guarantee fee for 2011-12.