Banks will collectively take a view on Kingfisher account: PNB

Even as Kingfisher lifted its lockout, questions remained over whether the lenders will restructure the beleaguered airline's over Rs 7,000 crore loans, with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) today saying that all banks will have to take decision on it collectively.

"The group of banks will take a call on Kingfisher account as to how to go about it ... It will be a collective decision of all banks. Date of the meeting will be decided by the State Bank," PNB Chairman K R Kamath told reporters here.

The 17-bank consortium has total exposure of over Rs 7,000 crore to the airline. SBI, the lead banker in the consortium, has over Rs 1,500 crore of exposure to the company.

Kingfisher employees have resumed work after a 27-day strike and a 25-day lockout which was lifted by the management as it agreed to pay by December-end four months salary dues to the employees in a staggered manner.

But resumption of Kingfisher's flights may take at least 3-4 weeks as the airline would have to satisfy the civil aviation regulator DGCA on safety issues as well as the viability of their financial and operational plans.

The banks have already restructured Kingfisher loans worth Rs 6,500 crore.

The carrier has been saddled with a loss of Rs 8,000 crore and a debt burden of another over Rs 7,500 crore, a large part of which it has not serviced since January this year.