Even as the beleaguered SpiceJet piles on its dues and grounds its fleet forcing thousands of travellers to shell out exorbitant fares, the promoter of the airline, Kalanithi Maran, seems to have given his parent company Sun Group saccharine deals while on his way out.
Documents accessed by dna show that even while SpiceJet’s finances were bleeding, the Kalanithi Maran-led airline was giving business worth several hundred crores to his parent company Sun Group.
Maran’s deal-awarding frenzy to his own companies started in 2012, two years after he had taken over the profit making airline. In 2012, the airline had posted a loss of Rs 605 crore. In one of the many deals that year, SpiceJet gave a deal worth Rs 300 crore for three years to Sun Direct TV Private Ltd (Sun Direct), which controls 17% of India’s DTH service market.
According to the draft agreement, the Rs 300-crore contract was to place SpiceJet advertisements on Sun Direct platforms, provide discount coupons to each other’s customers and share resources with each other. In a year when SpiceJet made a massive loss of Rs 605 crore, it signed similar deals with other companies also owned by Maran.
During the same board meeting in which SpiceJet’s CEO Neil Raymond Mills’ resignation was made public on August 3, 2013, SpiceJet also announced another string of deals with a host of other Maran-controlled companies. Mills was only half way in his tenure with 18 months still left in his contract. Mills quit despite the fact that his salary had been almost doubled during his stint with SpiceJet.
14/01/15 Sai Manish/Daily News & Analysis
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Documents accessed by dna show that even while SpiceJet’s finances were bleeding, the Kalanithi Maran-led airline was giving business worth several hundred crores to his parent company Sun Group.
Maran’s deal-awarding frenzy to his own companies started in 2012, two years after he had taken over the profit making airline. In 2012, the airline had posted a loss of Rs 605 crore. In one of the many deals that year, SpiceJet gave a deal worth Rs 300 crore for three years to Sun Direct TV Private Ltd (Sun Direct), which controls 17% of India’s DTH service market.
According to the draft agreement, the Rs 300-crore contract was to place SpiceJet advertisements on Sun Direct platforms, provide discount coupons to each other’s customers and share resources with each other. In a year when SpiceJet made a massive loss of Rs 605 crore, it signed similar deals with other companies also owned by Maran.
During the same board meeting in which SpiceJet’s CEO Neil Raymond Mills’ resignation was made public on August 3, 2013, SpiceJet also announced another string of deals with a host of other Maran-controlled companies. Mills was only half way in his tenure with 18 months still left in his contract. Mills quit despite the fact that his salary had been almost doubled during his stint with SpiceJet.
14/01/15 Sai Manish/Daily News & Analysis
