Cut costs to get parachute, Finance Ministry tells AI

New Delhi: Air India will have to work towards reducing its costs if it is to receive the Rs 5,000-crore bailout package from the Government, the Finance Ministry indicated on Monday.
Official sources told Business Line that this emerged at a 30-minute meeting, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, had with senior officials of the Ministries of Finance and Civil Aviation as also Air India.
“The meeting was called to apprise the Finance Ministry of the progress been made on the restructuring package of Air India. The meeting was a precursor to preparing a Cabinet note on Air India,” sources said.
The meeting assumes importance as Mr Mukherjee, who is considered the second most important Minister in the Union Cabinet, also heads the Group of Ministers looking into the issue of aviation turbine fuel and other matters affecting the profitability of the sector as a whole.
The Monday meeting comes less than a month after the Cabinet Secretary-headed Committee of Secretaries approved a proposal to pump in Rs 5,000 crore as equity into the airline over the next three years.
21/09/09 Business Line

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Categories: NACIL Sep 2009