Air India mopped up Rs 5.43 bn from asset monetisation in five years: Govt

Air India has mopped up Rs 5.43 billion so far from monetisation of its assets in prime locations such as Mumbai and Chennai, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.

The monetisation included the sale of six flats at Sterling Apartment, Mumbai to the State Bank of India with each of these flats fetching Rs 220 million, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply.

The national carrier also collected Rs 2.91 billion as lease rental from its priced Air India building at Nariman Point, Mumbai between 2012-13 and January 2018, he said.

"In all, Air India has monetised a sum of Rs 5.43 billion from 2012-13 to 2017-18," Sinha told the House.

However, he said the state-run airline has failed to meet its target of asset monetisation due to issues with land titles and end user restrictions.

The Centre had in 2012 approved monetisation of real estate assets in AI to the tune of Rs 50 billion over the next 10 year period with an annual target of Rs 5 billion from 2013 financial year onwards.

The monetised asset included selling of a vacant land at Coimbatore to NBCC for Rs 198 million and Lakshmi House at Chennai to the Ministry of External Affairs at Rs 977 million.

Replying to a separate question, the minister said the prices of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), constituting 35-50 per cent of the operational cost of an airline, has increased by over Rs 9,000 between January 1, 2017, to March, 2018 or about 17.40 per cent.

In January, a kilolitre of ATF cost Rs 52, 540.63. It touched Rs 61,681 on March 1, 2018, he added.