State-owned Air India?s management is losing its key functionaries one by one even as the airline needs a strong team to execute its crucial turnaround plan. The latest in the list is the company?s special business unit head for cargo and functional director on the airline board Anita Khurana.
The airline?s chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav has cleared Khurana?s application seeking voluntary retirement from the company. Airline sources said that around 16 senior officials including executive directors Manjira Khurana, P Senthil Kumar, DJ Chibber and HS Grover have opted for voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) in the last two years. With exodus on the rise, the civil aviation ministry has asked the airline to strengthen its board by inducting new functional directors ahead of operationalisation of two SBUs ? maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and ground-handling.
With present director (finance) S Chandrasekhar completing his five-year term in August and director (personnel) Anup K Srivastava on long leave, the airline has to look for executives for the two key posts. Air India has to also find a suitable person for the post of director (commercial). The airline has given the additional charge of commercial to one of its executive director FJ Vaz. ?The two other functional directors on the board ?KM Unni and Vipin K Sharma are also set to complete their terms in November this year,? a senior airline official said.
Air India has in the meantime submitted a plan to the aviation ministry for appointment of directors for commercial, personnel and finance.
The ministry, on its part, is on the lookout for two independent directors for the company board created by resignation of Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) vice-chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra and former Ficci secretary general Amit Mitra.
?The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) would soon come out with an advertisement for three key posts in the airline. For independent directors people are expected to be taken from the hospitality sector,? airline sources said.
Top executives are deserting the company at a time when it is undergoing its worst financial crisis in its history. The cash position of the company has deteriorated to the extent that it has to delay salaries and allowances of its over 30,000 staff. The airline is on the way to restructure its mounting debt to ease its tight financial situation as a result of monthly cash outgo.
The airline is estimated to post record loss of R7,000 crore in 2010-11 taking its accumulated loss to R19,000 crore. It has a total loan of about R21,000 crore taken from banks to meet working capital requirements. ?Our lenders led by SBI have asked for comfort letter from RBI and further expansion of equity base before restructuring our debt,? an official said.