Indian international airlines, Jet Airways, which is struggling to tide over a financial crisis, is planning to approach the State Bank of India for a loan of Rs 1,500 crore. This short-term loan will be used to meet its working capital needs and also fulfill certain pending payments and salaries. Etihad, the Middle East carrier and the strategic partner of Jet Airways, will reportedly be providing guarantee for the loan.
Jet Airways is presently facing a forensic audit by Earnst and Young, following allegations of irregularities by one of the Company’s lenders.
The airlines is reeling under losses amounting to approx. Rs 8,052 crore.
Set up by Naresh Goyal more than two decades back, the Airlines has been considering various ways of raising funds to wade through the financial mess that it has landed itself in, following losses over three quarters in a row.
The Indian investment and credit rating agency, ICRA, has already downgraded the ratings of Jet, which is yet to clear pending salaries of its employees for more than two months.
