Jet Airways gets new interest, this time from Russia's Far East Development Fund

Jet Airways has got fresh interest from Russia's Far East Development Fund to possibly bid for the airline.

The development comes in a day when Jet Airways' lenders met in Mumbai to consider extending deadline to submit bids, after previous suitors - Synergy Group and Prudent ARC  - failed to meet the February 17 deadline.

The deadline now has been extended to March 10.

The Russsian entity has asked Mumbai's Enso Group to find an Indian partner to form a consortium that will later put in a formal bid.

Enso Group founder Vinay Maloo confirmed the same to Moneycontrol. 

"We have been given the mandate to do the same," he added. He clarified that Enso Group is not part of the consortium that will put in the bid.

Enso is a diversified group with interests in mining, infrastructure and energy.

The Far East Development Fund was founded by the Russian government, and provides funding for infrastructure projects.

The new suitors have appeared even as the time is running out for Jet Airways lenders to find a new owner. The banks now have just a month before the mandatory 270-day insolvency period, gets over.

For the lenders, led by State Bank of India, there are few options. If the new suitors don't show up with a bid, liquidation will be the only other option to recover some part of the over Rs 8,000 crore that Jet owes them.  The airline, overall, has a liability of over Rs 20,000 crore.

Jet closed down its operations in April last year.