Jet Airways interim RP receives claims of over Rs 24,000 crore from lenders

Only claims related to Jet are being considered and those of subsidiary JetLite will not be accepted, IRP says

The interim resolution professional (IRP) handling Jet Airways insolvency has received claims of more than Rs 24,000 crore from its lenders, vendors, travel agents, and employees. The IRP has admitted 33 claims from banks worth Rs 8,462 crore, and is verifying Rs 15,044-crore claims from operational creditors and staff.

Naresh Goyal-owned group companies, including the airline's general sales agents in India, the UK, the UAE and a car rental firm, are among those who have filed the claims. Jet Privilege (Jet's loyalty programme), Etihad Airways, and its group companies have filed the claims, too.  The IRP has rejected Rs 230-crore debt claim from Jetair (India general sales agent) and is verifying its Rs 87-crore claim as an operational creditor. The UAE-based general sales agent has claimed Rs 426 crore.

Only claims related to Jet are being considered and those of subsidiary JetLite will not be accepted, IRP Ashish Chhawchharia said in a notification on Thursday. “The corporate insolvency process of only Jet has been initiated, the wholly owned subsidiaries being a separate legal entity is outside the purview of the process and hence only the claims pertaining to Jet shall be considered,” he said.

Jet shut operations on April 17. Last month, its lenders decided to refer it to the insolvency court with the hope of finding a buyer. The National Company Law Tribunal has asked the IRP to complete the process in 90 days. 

Creditor claims are being received as part of the insolvency process. Claims worth Rs 8,462 crore of domestic and overseas lenders have been admitted, while claims of Rs 1,380 crore rejected. 

Lenders are voting this week to decide who can bid for the airline as they don’t want any frivolous players in the race, the committee of creditors (CoC) discussed in its first meeting on Tuesday. 

E-voting should be over by Friday and advertisements inviting expressions of interest for Jet are scheduled to be out by July 20, said sources who attended the meeting. The suitors will get time till the first week of August to submit EOIs. 

The CoC has finalised the voting rights of each lender based on amount owed. State Bank of India has 19.43 per cent votes, highest among all lenders followed by YES Bank (12.81) and Punjab National Bank (11.31).

In the first CoC meeting, the lenders took stock of the assets of the company, which include six planes, spare parts, slots, Jet Privilege shares, and other intangible assets. Interestingly, the plane confiscated by Dutch authorities is being treated as an asset. Sources said the team working for the IRP, Grant Thornton, had been engaging with the aviation ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation regarding the slots that had been given away to other airlines temporarily. The interim RP has admitted the claims of the financial creditors worth Rs 8,500 crore.