Air India, being a state-owned carrier has sought for 21.21 billion rupees from the government as an additional equity for the fiscal year 2018-19 to make enable itself to pay pending payments to its vendors, a source at the airline told Reuters on Monday.

After the government’s unsuccessful efforts to sell a stake of 76 percent of the company, Air India, as of now owes about 18 billion rupees to all its vendors which include lessors and banks that have demanded payment from the indebted airline.

According to a source in the airline, it may receive the additional equity within the coming next 7 to 10 days after which it will be able to clear all its dues. But it added that this is above the 6.5 billion rupees it has already taken for the year.

Last month, the government put off a plan to sell a majority stake of up to 76 percent in Air India as it did not receive any response from the bidders which became the latest setback in its ambitious efforts to rescue the failing airline that has survived for many years using taxpayer funds.

While trying to find alternatives, the government will continue to support the loss-making airline’s financial requirements, Junior Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha had said. But he did not elaborate on a specific timeline for a new plan.

Two aircraft leasing firms and three banks have so far served default notices on Air India over the last few weeks, raising several concerns about the state-owned carrier’s finances and creditworthiness, the Business Standard newspaper reported earlier on Monday.

The aircraft leasing firms are San Francisco, United States-based Wells Fargo Trust Services and UAE’s state-owned Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE). They have all sent letters of demand to pay all the pending rental payments, the newspaper said, citing some sources.

According to a DAE spokesman who told Reuters that they were not owed any of the USD 10 million by Alliance Air, and they had not issued any official notice of default to Alliance.

Alliance Air is a sister-wing unit of Air India that operates flights limited to regions like small towns and cities in India.

Wells Fargo was not available due to outside usual U.S. business hours.

At least three lenders from a 22 bank consortium have also written to Air India expressing concerns that the company is no longer a performing asset, Business Standard said. The three banks are Dena Bank, Bank of India Ltd and Standard Chartered Bank. The airline has received a default notice from such banks for non-payment of dues that is being looked into by the government, the source confirmed.

You May Also Read: Bill Providing Death Penalty For Child Rape Taken Up For Discussion In Lok Sabha