National carrier Air India (AI) will offer a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to slash costs but, at the same time, it is also making efforts to retain fruitful employees.A senior AI official has said that the VRS would allow the national carrier to save up to 375 crore per year in wage bill for the next five years, and added that the scheme was being delayed as the carrier was working hard to retain talented workers.

The official said that all VRS applications would be screened by immediate bosses.

Speaking on the topic, the official said, "We plan to undertake a screening of all applications by immediate bosses as part of the VRS, so that only those whose performance is not up to mark leave the company and not the fruitful workers."

It means the national carrier is planning to reject any potential YRS applications from its fruitful employees.

Separately, an official from the civil aviation ministry said that the carrier had no plans to replace outgoing people. The official said if the carrier made new recruitments, then the main purpose of slashing staff costs via VRS would be lost.

Meanwhile, AI has confirmed that it would pay its employees' pending salaries as well as allowances to the tune of Rs 230 crore by the end of September.