Govt to infuse additional Rs 800 crore into Air India

New Delhi, July 31

The Finance Ministry sought Parliament's approval for an additional equity infusion of Rs 800 crore into Air India worth Rs 800 on Friday: a sum which is less than half of what the Civil Aviation Ministry wanted for the cash-strapped national carrier.

“The sum is part of the first supplementary demands for grant presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Air India was allocated Rs 2,500 crore in the Union Budget 2015-16— a sum well short of the nearly Rs 4,300 crore sought by the Ministry to ameliorate the debt strain in which the national carrier already submerged.

The Ministry had sought Rs 1,800 crore through supplementary demand for grants to make up this shortfall but was once again thwarted when the Central Government promised Rs 820.25 crore, including Rs 800 crore equity infusion, as well as Rs 12.83 crore for paying salaries to Flight Operations Inspectors deployed at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Rs 6.75 crore for service tax for Flight Operations Inspectors and Rs 50 lakh for minor works at DGCA.

The Central Government under the UPA had sanctioned Rs 30.231 crore-bailout package to Air India,  which has a debt of Rs 40,000 crore, in 2012.

Air India managed to contain its losses at Rs 5,547 crore in 2014. — PTI