INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
investors on Saturday, saying it is meeting its payment obligations to lenders and other dues, such as staff commitments
India's biggest-full service airline issued the statement a day after its shares fell to a three-year low following an announcement that it
had deferred its quarterly earnings report
Jet, which is part-owned by Qatar's Etihad Airways, was due to report quarterly earnings on Thursday but said in stock exchange filings that
its audit committee had not signed off on them "pending closure of certain matters"."Our account with all the banks as on date is
"Standard"," Jet Airways said in a statement on Saturday
It said it had not been placed in any special mention accounts by the banks, referring to the name given to accounts for borrowers that are
behind in their loan servicing payments.The chairman of State Bank of India, the country's top bank and a key lender to Jet, said on Friday
that the airline's loan is on the bank's watch list and special mention accounts
He didn't give details.Jet needs to repay about Rs 3,000 crore ($436 million) in loans and bonds over the next three years, with a third
falling due by the end of 2019, Reuters data shows.The company has denied suggestions it told staff earlier this month it was running out of
money.On Saturday, Jet said it was working on cost and revenue initiatives to cushion the sharp rise in fuel costs and the depreciation in
the Indian rupee."We have had scheduled amortizations in the past so many years and the company has met its repayment obligations all the
time," it said.Airlines in India, the world's fastest-growing major aviation market, operate on thin margins
Carriers have struggled to stay profitable despite filling nearly 90 per cent of seats as they compete fiercely to keep ticket prices low to
