Section 37
Why Jet Airways could not be revived
What happens when a company runs out of cash and a rescue deal is never completed?
- case
- Failure
- years
- 2019-2024
- Over ₹8,000 crore
- Owed to banks · 2019
- Close to ₹15,000 crore
- Total liabilities incl. unpaid salaries (reported) · 2019
- ₹200 crore
- Bidder's money forfeited by Supreme Court · 2024
- 01
The situation
Jet Airways, once a leading private airline, ran out of cash and suspended all operations on 17 April 2019. It owed over Rs 8,000 crore to banks, and its total liabilities including unpaid salaries were reported at close to Rs 15,000 crore.
- 02
The decision
In June 2019 the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted an insolvency plea filed by lenders led by State Bank of India. Under the insolvency process, a resolution plan by the Jalan Kalrock Consortium was later approved, but the consortium did not pay the first tranche of Rs 350 crore and the plan stayed unimplemented.
- 03
The outcome
On 7 November 2024 the Supreme Court, using its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, ordered Jet Airways to be liquidated because the resolution plan had not been implemented for five years. It ordered the Rs 200 crore already paid in by the consortium to be forfeited, allowed lenders to encash its Rs 150 crore performance bank guarantee, and directed the NCLT Mumbai bench to appoint a liquidator.