Modi Has Asked Tata to Explore Buying Jet Stake, Sources Say

  • Jet Airways’ collapse could result in thousands of job losses
  • Deal could involve haircut to bank loans and airport dues

A Jet Airways India Ltd. plane prepares to land at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.

Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
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The interests of India’s government and the nation’s biggest conglomerate are converging over a teetering airline.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has approached Tata Group’s salt-to-software empire to help rescue Jet Airways India Ltd., people familiar with the matter said. To aid the process, the government is talking to Tata about a potential haircut to state-run banks on Jet’s loans and writing off some of its dues to the state-run airports operator, one of the people said. Tata’s board is deliberating a takeover on Friday.