New Delhi: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet is looking forward to empanel the original founder and the new owner of SpiceJet Ajay Singh in its board.
According to media reports, his name has already been sent to the civil aviation ministry for security clearance.
The airline going through crisis, earlier had Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways as its promoters. Both of them have already transferred 58% ownership to Singh.
Singh is being seen as a trump card by the current board members of the airline which is currently, in a desperate need of investments.
The board members - Nicholas Martin Paul, MK Harinarayanan, J Ravindran and R Ravivenkatesh believe that Singh will be able to negotiate better with prospective investors.
A civil ministry official told to Economic Times daily, on condition of anonymity, “We will send it (Ajay Singh's name) to the home ministry for security clearance.”
The official further told that according to rules, the top executives and the board members mandatorily need a security clearance before joining the board.
He further added that Singh's clearance should not take much time as he was on the board earlier too.
Reportedly, SpiceJet is going through a financial crisis since September last year. Its immediate liabilities are in a range of about Rs 1500 crore, of which about Rs 650 crore is due to the companies which leased aircrafts to the carrier.
Apart from this, the carrier stands liable to the airport operators for an amount of around Rs 300 crore.
