Mumbai: With banks still making efforts to revive cash-strapped Jet Airways, two operational creditors have dragged the trouble airline to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
Shaman Wheels Pvt Ltd and Gaggar Enterprises Pvt Ltd have filed two separate insolvency pleas against the Naresh Goyal founded Jet Airways at NCLT in Mumbai for recovery of their dues. The tribunal will hear the matter today for admission of the insolvency pleas.
According to details available on the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Shaman Wheels is a motor dealership at Mumbai and Gaggar Enterprises is a mineral producer at Ahmedabad.
Jet Airways owes ₹6.28 crore to Shaman Wheels, which used to supply trucks and trailers for the airline. Jet Airways’ due to Gaggar Enterprises, which sold packaged drinking water to the carrier, could not be ascertained immediately.
The insolvency petitions may push other lenders to join the petition as financial creditors for recovery of their dues. Lenders to Jet Airways, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), have been scouting for investors to revive the airline which in turn would help them recover their dues. The airline’s total liability, including unpaid salaries and vendor dues, is nearly ₹15,000 crore.
As Jet has now been referred to the NCLT, under bankruptcy resolution, lenders may recover only a fraction of the ₹8,400 crore the airline owes them.
Starting this year, lenders to Jet Airways have been trying to resolve the insolvency crisis at the airline outside the NCLT due to fear of little to no recovery. Under the bank-led resolution process, Etihad Airways had agreed to invest in the airline provided it remained a minority investor.
On 27 May, Mint reported that lenders would take a final decision on the fate of Jet Airways in the next two weeks as they hunt for a new domestic investor, before taking up the last option of a filing for bankruptcy.
The airline suspended operations on 17 April, having failed to pay off its creditors and unable to meet the operational cost due to acute lack of funds.
