Budget carrier IndiGo on Monday said it will refund the payment to all passengers against the ticket cancellations done during the Covid-induced Lockdown, by 31st January, 2021. The company said that it has already refunded Rs 100 crore which is about 90 per cent of the total amount it owed to customers. ALSO READ | Corona Vaccine: Know How Serum Institute Plans To Distribute The Oxford Vaccine In India

According to news agency PTI, IndiGo chief executive officer Ronojoy Dutta said that the airline’s operations came to a complete halt when the nationwide lockdown was imposed in March due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Due to this, the cash flow had dried up and so the firm was unable to immediately process refunds for cancelled flights.

"We had to create credit shells for the refunds that were due to our customers," Dutta said, adding that We are pleased to commit that we will disburse the full 100 per cent credit shell payments latest by January 31, 2021."

A nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25 in wake of the Covid-19 outbreak across the world. Due to this, domestic and international travel was banned in the country.

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The airlines were forced to cancel the flights but instead of refunding the tickets, airlines had begun a practice to keep these amount in a credit shell. Passengers could use these credit shells to book on a later date, but with certain restrictions.

In October, the Supreme Court ordered the airlines to refund the passengers who had to cancel the flight tickets booked during two-month long nationwide lockdown. During the verdict, the apex court said that if the firms are in financial distress, they can provide a credit to the flyers that can be redeemed until 31 March, 2021.