New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has turned down the conditional sovereign guarantee offered by the finance ministry to Air India's Rs 7,400 crore non-convertible debentures (NCD) issue.
“We cannot accept the sovereign guarantee with conditions and have informed the finance ministry. What does a sovereign guarantee mean, if it is with conditions? If it means that the government will not hold, if the conditions are not met then what is need of having a sovereign guarantee. Not only that, a conditional sovereign guarantee will impact the rating of the bond and the bond issue will not find any takers,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official.
He further added that civil aviation minister Ajit Singh will meet finance minister P Chidambaram soon to discuss the issue of conditional sovereign guarantee. “The civil aviation minister is updated about this issue and is ready to talk to the finance minister,” said the official.
27/09/12 Mihir Mishra/Indian Express
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“We cannot accept the sovereign guarantee with conditions and have informed the finance ministry. What does a sovereign guarantee mean, if it is with conditions? If it means that the government will not hold, if the conditions are not met then what is need of having a sovereign guarantee. Not only that, a conditional sovereign guarantee will impact the rating of the bond and the bond issue will not find any takers,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official.
He further added that civil aviation minister Ajit Singh will meet finance minister P Chidambaram soon to discuss the issue of conditional sovereign guarantee. “The civil aviation minister is updated about this issue and is ready to talk to the finance minister,” said the official.
27/09/12 Mihir Mishra/Indian Express
