Kingfisher's lenders to continue talks on debt restructuring
ICICI Bank today said its exposure in the beleaguered airline Kingfisher is very little and there are no overdues, while all the lenders are expected to have more rounds of deliberations on its debt restructuring.
"As far as we (ICICI Bank) are concerned, our exposure is very less. Its around Rs 400 crore. And our exposure is quite well covered through securities and cash flows outside of the airline as well. In that sense, we are quite comfortable as of now, there are no overdues," ICICI Chief Chanda Kochhar told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum here.
Meanwhile, sources said that lenders will continue to hold discussions to consider if the struggling airline's debt could be restructured.
Banks, including SBI, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and Punjab National Bank, have an exposure of Rs 7,700 crore to the airline.
Kocchar said that the meeting between bankers and Kingfisher Airlines has happened yesterday, but added that she did not "have an update on it".
The airline has suffered a loss of Rs 1,027 crore in 2010-11 and has a mounting debt of Rs 7,057.08 crore.
To a query if ICICI Bank would lend more to the cash- strapped airline, she said, "I don't think anyone is talking of anything like that as of now".
The airline is currently facing troubled times and was led to cancel a number of flights due to factors like increased costs. The beleaguered airline has cancelled 210 flights since Monday.
The airline has said that it has requested banks for a higher borrowing limit due to rising operating, costs caused by costlier fuel prices and rupee devaluation.
The airline had effected a loan recast earlier this year, wherein some banks were given certain equity stakes, but its debts are still estimated to be about Rs 7,000 crore.
