GMR Infrastructure on Thursday said that the accumulated dues of Rs 680 crore from?struggling national carrier Air India has impacted the profitability of its airports business that has managed to narrow losses after a tariff increase at the Delhi airport.
For the quarter ended September, the airport segment reported PAT (before minority) of R28 crore for the quarter compared with R210 crore it reported the same quarter last year. ?The sector would have been PAT positive on Air India dues,? said Sidharath Kapur, CFO, GMR Airports.??We hope that the situation is remedied quickly and the government takes action of pumping more money into the airline.?
Receivables from Air India amounted to R129 crore for the July-September quarter alone, the company said.?The carrier paid R34 crore in the October-November period, it added.
That?s not the only worry GMR has. Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines, which has not flown since October, has dues of R64 crore pending so?far.
?This affects our liquidity and incurs additional interest burden,? added Subbarao Amarthaluru, group CFO, GMR Group. The group has total?receivables?pending up to R2,000 crore and the additional interest charge, according to him, is around R250 crore.
Meanwhile, arbitration proceedings have been initiated at a Singapore court to resolve a dispute over collection of airport development fees at GMR?s Male airport that is facing opposition from the Maldives government. The company, which won a bid to run the Male airport in 2010, ?was also asked to stop construction work on a second terminal pending approval from the civil aviation authority.
?We hope to come around the situation soon with the tribunal hearing set to start by the end of the month,? added Kapur.
GMR also saw traffic decline by 9% and 4% for the Delhi and Hyderabad airports that it operates but rising inflation and higher user fees in Delhi from May onwards made up for that loss. With ?the hike in tariff increase at Delhi airport in May, the airport sector is turning around for the group and the company expects the sector to record profits soon.
