Air India equity base to be hiked

Hyderabad: Union civil aviation minister Mr Praful Patel today announced that the Centre would expand Air India's equity base to Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,500 crore from the present Rs 145 crore in the absence of an IPO. "We will give a loan of Rs 1,000 crore towards working capital", he said.
As regards the merger of Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways, Mr Patel said that the government would have no objection to the alliance as long as it was within the Directorate General of Civil Aviation guidelines.
“We have not heard from them and so it is pre-mature to speak about it. I welcome the move by the airlines to tide over the present crisis”, he said at a Press conference when asked about the business pact between the two rival airlines. This was soon after the inauguration of the India Aviation 2008 air show.
On questions whether such an alliance would lead to a monopoly or predatory pricing, he again said it was too early to talk on the matter. He, however, added that in certain routes some airlines already had a cent per cent monopoly.
15/10/08 The Statesman

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Categories: NACIL Oct 2008