Tata Sons may board Jet Airways

Fearing another major airline bankruptcy, the Indian government is said to have approached Tata Group to acquire the debt-laden private airline Jet Airways, reports media.

The Naresh Goyal-led enterprises badly needs cash for survival. A contagion effect of lenders losing money as the troubled airlines owes close to Rs. 8,411 crore to banks, of which a repayment of Rs. 2,000 crore is due in H2FY19, besides aircraft lessors, staff and various vendors, could be averted if the Tata-Jet Airways deal gets through.

On the other hand, the Tata Group, has strong financials. Through Tata Sons, the group owns stakes in two Indian airlines: Vistara, which is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines and low-cost carrier Air Asia India, which is a JV with Malaysia’s Air Asia. Tata Sons' Chairman N Chandrasekaran is consulting the board on Jet Airways acquisition, reported a major business daily.

Reacting to this development, at 15:24 hours, the stock of Jet Airways was quoting Rs. 342.70 per share, up by Rs. 21.75 or 6.78 per cent on Friday. While the benchmark index BSE Sensex was at 35,462.99, up by 202.45 points or 0.57 per cent.