Jet Airways’ 1.43 lakh retail shareholders stare at wipeout after SC order

The 1.43 lakh retail shareholders of Jet Airways are now staring at a complete wipeout of their investments after the Supreme Court ordered the troubled airline’s liquidation on Thursday, November 8, rejecting the Jalan Kalrock consortium’s takeover bid.
According to exchange data, retail investors (who invested under ₹2 lakh) currently own 19.29% of Jet Airways (India) Ltd shares.
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This amounts to 1,43,894 shareholders owning 2,19,12,441 shares in the company, meaning that the retail shareholders own ₹74,58,99,491.64 ( ₹74.59 crore) in Jet Airways shares as a whole.
The company’s shares had closed at ₹34.04 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after the November 8 trading session. This was a drop of 1.79 points or 5%.
The company’s promoter, Naresh Goyal (the founder and chairman), owns 24.99% of the shares. Other major shareholders include Punjab National Bank, which holds 26.01%, and Etihad Airways, which holds 24%.
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Other shareholders include the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) which owns 2.07%, foreign portfolio investors who own just 0.01%, and NRIs who own 0.96%.
Jet Airways ceased operations in April 2019 after its debts exceeded ₹7,500 crore, and it couldn’t pay employees and vendors. Debts have been a mounting problem since 2010 as the airline struggled with rising costs and competition from lower-cost carriers.
Thus, its lenders, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), took the case to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Afterwards, investors from the consortium of Kalrock Capital and Murari Lal Jalan took interest and proposed a revival plan in 2021, which the NCLT agreed to.
However, the plans failed due to disagreements over payment schedules with lenders and former employees.
Meanwhile, Founder and Chairman Naresh Goyal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 1, 2023, on money-laundering charges, with the ED alleging he had siphoned loan money worth around ₹538.62 crore from Canara Bank.
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