Maran to Sell Majority Stake in SpiceJet, 10% Salary Hike after 3 Years

Promoter of low cost airline SpiceJet and owner of Sun TV Network, Kalanithi Maran is set to sell his 53.48 percent stake in the loss incurring carrier and is reportedly discussing the matter with former Spicejet director and co-founder A Singh and a few other private equity traders.

"Currently we are in our silent period and hence would not be able to comment," SpiceJet told The Hindustan Times.

The carrier has been incurring losses for a while now and is regularly seen introducing new offers to recover the loss. In the first ten days of July, SpiceJet announced 10 lakh tickets for ₹999, valid for travel in various domestic routes between 6 January and 24 October 2015.

The airline posted a loss of ₹1,003.24 crore in the previous financial year.

"SpiceJet requires around $250 million as on March 2014 to bring books in order," explained Kapil Kaul, south Asia chief executive of aviation consultancy Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa).

"It may require further fund infusion for growth and expansion. Restructuring efforts are not showing results largely due to very complex competitive dynamics and lack of funds to execute it. I expect a significant downsizing post a possible fund infusion," Kaul added.

Meanwhile, SpiceJet has also hiked the salaries of pilots and crew members by 10 percent after three years that came into effect last month, reported The Economic Times.

"SpiceJet in the last few years had gone below the market index in terms of salaries to pilots. This will bring it on par with its peers," said an employee to ET.

The low fare airline controlled by billionaire Maran operates more than 330 daily flights to 48 destinations, which includes 41 Indian cities and 7 international destinations.

Maran bought majority stake in SpiceJet from its promoter Bhupendra Kansagra and Wilbur Ross in 2010.

On Friday at 10 am, stock price of SpiceJet Limited was seen 1.84 percent lower at ₹13.37 per share.