SBI not for closing down Kingfisher: Krishna Kumar

Lead lender to Kingfisher Airlines SBI said on Thursday that it was not for shutting down the cash-strapped carrier, but lenders would need to take measures to ensure recovery of loans extended to the airline.

"We do not like shutting down of Kingfisher, but we also need to take measures as taken in the last couple of weeks. We have asked Kingfisher to start the process of valuation of non-core assets so that we know how much we could get if they were disposed of," CNBC TV18 quoted SBI managing director A Krishna Kumar as saying.

The cash-strapped airline owes Rs7,500 crore in accumulated interest, since January, to the 17-bank consortium led by the State Bank of India, which alone has an exposure of Rs1,400 crore.

On 5 July, the consortium held a meeting with the management of the carrier, following which the banks said they had hired HDFC Securities to do a valuation of Kingfisher properties and submit a report within 15 days.

Replying to a question as to how much lenders could raise from these properties, Kumar said, he did not know at the moment and once the valuation was done, the banks would have the correct estimate.

After the meeting, Kingfisher issued a statement saying, "As far as Kingfisher House is concerned, this property is now vacant following the move to The Qube. This property is intended for sale and once again, the consortium was voluntarily approached for permission to sell with the proceeds being paid to the banks."