A consortium of 19 public sector banks is looking at converting its loans worth ₹10,000 crore to Air India into equity. If the proposal goes through, as much of 40 per cent of Air India’s equity will be held by the consortium.

The proposal, which is in its initial stages, needs to be approved by the boards of each of the banks and Cabinet before it is finally put into action, a process that may take up to six months. The move will help de-stress banks’ loans and is being looked at as a win-win situation for both Air India and the banks. It will not only help the state-owned airline to rework its outstanding funds with the banks but also help the banks as stakeholders who can participate at the Board level in Air India’s decision making.

This revamp comes against the back drop of the Reserve Bank of India coming out with S4A guidelines which look at ways and means of providing sustainable restructuring for financially stressed companies. The new guidelines allow conversion of outstanding debt into sustainable and non-sustainable debt, with latter being converted into equity. The RBI allows this if a majority of the lenders, who hold nearly 75 per cent of the value of the debt, get approval from their respective boards.

State Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Oriental Bank of India and Canara Bank are among the banks which are part of the consortium which is examining the proposal, a senior AI official, who declined to be named, said.

Rejecting the theory that this was the Government’s way of looking at divesting its stake in Air India, another airline official said, “This is broad basing the equity base of the airline. Besides, the Government is a shareholder in the banks and in Air India so what is wrong if a stakeholder owned by the Government owns equity in AI?”

Sources pointed out that this method had been used to restructure the debts of several private sector companies, including Essar Steel.

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