If market sources are to be believed, today Kingfisher Airlines paid the second installment of income tax dues to the Income Tax Department of India.
Ever since the management announced their ineffectiveness towards clearing the salaries of the employees in November 2011, nearly 40 bank accounts of the airlines were frozen, only to be un-freezed in March 2012.
Kingfisher has already paid Rs 44 crore to the Income Tax Department and Rs 20 crore to the Service Tax Authorities.
Industry sources suggest that Kingfisher Airlines today paid a sum of Rs 9 crore to the Income Tax as their second installment of the total outstanding tax of nearly Rs 350 crore. Kingfisher is liable to pay Rs 9 crore every week starting from April 7, 2012 to clear the outstanding taxes to the government.
Surprisingly, the cash strapped airlines managed to clear its dues before the week’s deadline. The company also paid the salaries of its employees between April 4 and April 10.
Kingfisher Airlines has not made profits since its inception in 2005. The airlines carrier has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 10.27 billion in 2010-11 and has a debt burden of Rs 70.57 billion on its books.
The problems of Kingfisher Airlines were reflected in the stock markets when its stock prices crashed by a massive eighteen percent on November 11, 2011on the National Stock Exchange of India.
An acknowledgement by the management of Kingfisher Group saying that they had failed to pay salaries on time in the last few months triggered the collapse. The investor community dumped the shares as the possibility of the company to remain afloat seemed bleak.
The shares of Kingfisher Airlines rose by 1.78 percent on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) to close at Rs 20.05. On Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the shares closed at Rs 20.10, up by 1.52 percent.