In a bid to salvage the sinking KSRTC, the corporation will ink an agreement with a consortium of banks to obatin loan to the tune of Rs 1,300 crore. Transport Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan on Tuesday said the agreement in this regard will be signed on November 7.
He said the consortium of banks is headed by State Bank of India (SBI). Out of the total amount, the SBI will lend an amount worth Rs 350 crore.
The other banks in the consortium are SBT (Rs 300 cr); Lakshmi Vilas Bank (Rs 75 cr); Canara bank (Rs 200 cr); State Bank of India, HyderabadRs (Rs 50 cr); Union Bank of India(Rs 100 cr), Bank of India (Rs 75 crore); Kerala Grameen Bank (Rs 50 crore) and Vijaya bank (Rs 100 cr).
The chief officers of the banks attended the meeting, which was held here on Tuesday in the presence of Transport Minister. The loan, with a gestation period of 12 years, has an interest rate of 12 per cent. The KSRTC has taken a loan from the KTDFC for an interest rate of 14.5 per cent. Thus with a lesser interest rate, the KSRTC plans to save Rs 32. 5 cr.
Besides, by extending the loan period to 12 years, the KSRTC can save Rs 432 cr. Now, the KSRTC’s annual loss is pegged at whopping Rs 621.28 cr.
The Minister said that prior to the agreement with the bank consortium, a loan of Rs 1,090. 50 cr given by the govt will be converted into share capital, which would ease the repayment of interest to the tune of Rs 168.2 cr. Besides, Rs 172 .37 cr, which has to be paid as arrears in this regard, has been fully written off. Under the social security category, they would get Rs 104.19 as cess, annually. Minister also lashed out against the KSRTEA for calling the strike on Tuesday. “At a time, when we are trying our level best to save the corporation, the strike called by the union is unwarranted,” he said.
News: New Indian Express
