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Kingfisher Airlines appoints directors to meet rules

Troubled carrier Kingfisher Airlines Ltd has named three independent directors on its board to comply with rules, after the last of its independent directors quit last week amid growing concerns over its survival.

Indian rules require at least half of the directors on a publicly listed company to be independent. Kingfisher’s board was left with just three executive directors, including Chairman Vijay Mallya, after it lost four independent directors in the last one year.

Kingfisher named Manmohan Singh Kapur, Lalit Bhasin and Shrikant Ruparel as new independent directors on its board, the company said on Wednesday.

Kingfisher, controlled by Mallya, has a debt of $1.3 billion and is facing near collapse as banks have so far refused to lend it more for day-to-day operation.

ICICI Bank (ICBK.NS), which has loans of about 4.3 billion rupees to the embattled airline, has asked for a top-up on its loan security or to adjust the loan amount after the carrier’s stock was pounded in recent weeks.

The ailing carrier will operate about 120 flights with 20 planes this summer, according to its revised schedule, a far cry from the 370 daily flights with 64 planes last September.

The massive cutback in flights have reduced revenues, leaving Kingfisher with little cash to pay its employees, airports and tax authorities.