Mumbai: Naresh Goyal-led cash strapped airline Jet Airways has delayed its interest payment to a consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India due to cash flow issues, the airline informed the stock exchange late on Tuesday.
“This is to inform you that the payment of interest and principal instalment due to the consortium of Indian Banks (led by State Bank of India) on 31st December 2018 has been delayed due to temporary cashflow mismatch and the Company has engaged with them in relation to the same,” the airline said in a statement.
This is the first time that Jet Airways has defaulted on debt repayment. The Naresh Goyal-controlled airline, which has reported three consecutive quarterly losses of over Rs 1,000 crore each since March, already has about Rs 8,052 of debt on its books as on September 30. Rating agency Icra has already cut the rating on Jet Airways borrowing programmes.
Jet Airways had earlier mentioned that its liquidity position is stretched, and it has been delaying some payment to vendors and employees. SBI has already ordered a forensic audit of the airline’s accounts for the last four financial years.
Jet Airway’s stock was trading at Rs 276.05, at 11 am on Wednesday, down 1.78% from the previous day’s close.