At least three lenders have bracketed the loans issued to private carrier SpiceJet under the “high-risk category”, a report said on August 8, citing sources who are privy to the development.
The red-flags have been raised by two private lenders – IDFC First Bank and Yes Bank – and the state-owned Indian Bank, the Reuters report claimed.
The lenders are concerned about SpiceJet’s cash flows and have held discussions seeking assurances from the Indian budget carrier, as it is behind on payments to some aircraft lessors, the persons who are familiar with the development told the news agency.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the development.
SpiceJet has denied the report, claiming that no lender has put its account on red alert.
“SpiceJet would like to state that the article is absolutely false and baseless. None of our banks has put our account on high risk or alert. The same has been confirmed to us by our lenders. It is unfortunate that the story was run despite our strong denial and no official comment from any of our banks,” the airline said in a regulatory filing.
IDFC, Yes Bank and Indian Bank were yet to issue a statement.
The news comes three days after a PTI report, citing sources, claimed that three SpiceJet aircraft have been deregistered by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), after their lessor Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) asked the aviation regulator for it.
On August 3, Network18 learnt from sources that SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh could be in talks with a middle-eastern carrier for a possible stake sale. The airline is also in discussions with a couple of Indian conglomerates, to offload partial stake in the airline.
SpiceJet, notably, has been making losses for the last four years. It incurred net losses of Rs 316 crore, Rs 934 crore and Rs 998 crore in 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. In the April-December period of 2021, the airline posted a net loss of Rs 1,248 crore. The airline is yet to declare results for the January-March period of 2022.
The DGCA had on July 27 ordered SpiceJet to operate not more than 50 percent of its flights, which were approved for the summer schedule, for a period of eight weeks. On July 6, the aviation regulator had issued a show-cause notice to SpiceJet following at least eight incidents of technical malfunction in its aircraft since June 19.
(With inputs from agencies)
