Air India seeks 2,400 crore loan from NSSF

New India: Disinvestment-bound Air India has sought the government's approval to borrow Rs 2,400 crore from National Small Savings Fund (NSSF), a pool of small savings from households, to meet its working capital requirements.

The airline, which has seen its total debt ballooning to Rs 58,000 crore, made the request at a meeting on May 14 of all the top bosses of agencies working under the Civil Aviation Ministry. The meeting was chaired by Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola.

The Aviation Secretary is, however, learnt to have advised Air India to discuss its financial issues separately."This is fresh requirement beyond what had been approved earlier," said a senior Air India official.

Explaining the justification for fresh demand, the official said that the government was to give Air India a financial support of Rs 2,484 crore, the balance of the budgetary support.