New Delhi: The Kingfisher Airline on Thursday issued a statement seeking to refute reports that banks led by the SBI had initiated debt recovery proceedings against it. The statement issued by the cash-strapped airline said, "Following misleading and factually incorrect reports appearing in a section of the press, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd would like to clarify that it is patently wrong and false to claim or state that banks have started recovery proceedings after a meeting of the consortium of bankers today.
"The meeting was scheduled as an update meeting and there was no discussion on commencement of recovery proceedings."
The statement added, "Kingfisher House (in Mumbai) has been lying vacant after the staff moved to our new offices at The Qube in Mumbai, and at that time itself, on our own accord, we approached the banks with a proposal to liquidate this unutilised asset and at today’s meeting we raised the issue of this pending approval."
Reports had earlier claimed that at a bankers' meeting held on Thursday morning, it was decided to initiate debt recovery proceedings against the ailing airline company.
Sources said that the bankers had decided to sell-off Kingfisher's non-core assets that include the Kingfisher House in Mumbai and a villa belonging to the airline's chief Vijay Mallya in Goa.
Sources added that the decision was taken after a group of banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI) met to review the airline's financial position.
An SBI official reportedly said that the lenders may be able to recover around Rs 135 crore from the property sale of Kingfisher.
Reports further said that the airline had been given 15 days to come up with steps to improve its operations.
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