Rohit Nandan appointed Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India

Rohit Nandan, a joint secretary in the civil aviation ministry was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India for a three-year term on 12 August 2011. Nandan was appointed after removal of Arvind Jadhav from the position of Chairman and CMD. Nandan was one of ten IAS officers selected by the cabinet secretary to monitor and expedite the completion of venues in the run-up to last year’s Commonwealth Games.

A 1982-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre Nandan is currently face to face with an extremely tough corporate challenge. The biggest problem that Nandan is likely to face is being able to simultaneously improve Air India’s earnings and decrease debt.

Air India is bleeding Rs 600 crore every month and is burdened by over Rs 40000 crore in debt. Working capital loans of the carrier have also crossed Rs 21000 crore, which is just Rs 1000 crore less than their entitlement on their equity base of Rs 3145 crore. Its losses total around Rs 20000 crore.