JOIN USSpiceJet says it has cleared major income tax dues
A day after SpiceJet’s control was handed over to original promoter Ajay Singh following the formalisation of transfer of shares held by Kalanidhi Maran, the airline on Tuesday announced that it has cleared its major outstanding dues related to income tax (I-T) payments.
With the airline also clearing all service tax dues and employee salaries earlier in the month, SpiceJet said it believes that the clearance of these dues is a “key step” in its revival and resurgence plan.
Though the airline refused to provide a figure, a written reply in the Lok Sabha on December 23 last year showed that it had I-T dues of Rs 105 crore and service tax dues of Rs 20 crore. The total outstanding dues grew by Rs 240 crore in a little over a fortnight from Rs 990 crore on November 24 to Rs 1,230 crore on December 10, the government had then said.
With positive news around, the airline, whose stock reached an 80-week high on Tuesday, said it would also increase its daily flights to 280 services from the existing 200-plus flights.
“Paying our statutory dues on which we had fallen behind as a result of a very difficult couple of years was a high priority for us. This is the first major step in settling our payables to various creditors, which we will do as per mutual discussions and payment plans that are being put together,” Kiran Koteshwar, Acting Chief Financial Officer of SpiceJet, said. He said they had paid all salaries to staff and have started making “meaningful payments” to other business partners.
“Our resurgence is very much on track. Load factors are in the mid-80s, on-time performance has bounced back nicely and is now regularly hitting 90 per cent and we are flying over 200 flights a day, to increase to 280 daily flights in April. Consumer confidence is back, staff morale is high, creditors who have been very patient with us are finally seeing the fruits of their patience,” Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer of SpiceJet, said.
On Monday, the airline informed the Bombay Stock Exchange about the transfer of the “entire shareholding of Kalanithi Maran and Kal Airways Private (the existing promoters) aggregating 350,428,758 equity shares (58.46 per cent) to Ajay Singh”.