The government has provided financial support to debt-laden Air India by infusing equity and by way of guarantee, a senior official said on November 19.
"The airline has been given support from time to time by way of equity and guarantee," said Aviation Secretary RN Chaubey.
While the amount was not specified, Chaubey said that infusion was made after the airline failed to attract any bid from investors.
The government had originally proposed to offload 76 percent equity share capital of the national carrier as well as transfer the management control to a private entity. The buyer would have had to take over Rs 24,000 crore debt or the carrier along with over Rs 8,000 crore of liabilities.
Union minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu at the recently held Moneycontrol Wealth Creator Awards said that the "timing of the bid wasn't right". (Read here)
"The airline faces legacy issues and has an unsustainable amount of debt. Also, the timing of Air India divestment was not right. Air India has an intrinsic strength and global footprint. The airline can become profitable if the debt can be trimmed. IBC says that if businesses have unsustainable debt, it has to be restructured. Similar should be the case with Air India," Prabhu said.
The state-carrier, which is sitting on a debt pile of over Rs 55,000 crore, started monetising its assets, to mop up funds, after it found no takers. According to its audited accounts, the airline's total losses stood at Rs 47,145.62 crore in 2016-17.
Recently, Air India put up 70 residential and commercial buildings for sale with a target to raise Rs 700-800 crore.
According to Air India's asset monetisation programme, the national carrier has to raise Rs 5,000 crore between April 2014 and March 2021, with an annual target of Rs 500 crore since FY13.
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