Air India to get Rs 400 crore in Jan

Efforts to strengthen Air India through equity infusion got some shape on Tuesday with the government indicating that Air India will get the first installment of funding of around Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) in January 2010.

An Air India spokesperson said that efforts are also on to pay productivity linked incentive arrears for October to employees soon.

The Committee of Secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, on Tuesday took up two crucial issues facing the civil aviation sector -- whether to allow foreign airlines to invest in their Indian counterparts and whether to raise the foreign direct investment cap.

The Committee also reviewed the overall FDI policy in relation to a host of other sectors as well.

Details awaited.

Meanwhile, burdened by high fuel and labour costs, cash-strapped Air India suffered a net loss of Rs 5,548 crore (Rs 55.48 billion) in 2008-09, as its total revenue declined by around Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) compared to the previous fiscal.

The losses came down from Rs 7,200 crore (Rs 72 billion) the airline suffered in 2007-08 to Rs 5,548.26 crore (Rs 55.482 billion) in 2008-09. Total revenue fell to Rs 13,479 crore (Rs 134.79 billion) in FY'09 from Rs 15,252 crore (Rs 152.52 billion) during the previous fiscal.