New Delhi: Air India has mopped up Rs543.03 crore so far from monetisation of its assets in prime locations such as Mumbai and Chennai, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.
The monetisation included the sale of six flats at Sterling apartment, Mumbai to the State Bank of India with each of these flats fetching Rs22 crore, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply.
The national carrier also collected Rs291 crore as lease rental from its prized Air India building at Nariman Point, Mumbai between 2012-13 and January 2018, he said. “In all, Air India has monetised a sum of Rs543.03 crore from 2012-13 to 2017-18,” Sinha told the House.
However, he said the state-run airline has failed to meet its target of asset monetisation due to issues with land titles and end user restrictions. The Centre had in 2012 approved monetisation of real estate assets in AI to the tune of Rs5,000 crore over the next 10-year period with an annual target of Rs500 crore from 2013 fiscal onwards.
The monetised asset included selling of a vacant land at Coimbatore to NBCC for Rs19.81 crore and Lakshmi House at Chennai to the ministry of external affairs at Rs97.72 crore. Replying to a separate question, the minister said the prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), constituting 35-50% of the operational cost of an airline, has increased by over Rs9,000 between 1 January 2017 to 1 March 2018 or about 17.40%.
In January, a kilo litre of ATF cost Rs52, 540.63. It touched Rs 61,681 on 1 March 2018, he added.