New Delhi, April 15 -- Air India Ltd. racked up a wider-than-expected annual loss of more than 220 billion rupees ($2.4 billion), prompting the company to seek financial aid from its shareholders, according to people familiar with the situation.

The loss for the fiscal year ended March 31 - a period punctuated by the deadly crash of a Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner, the closure of Pakistani airspace to Indian carriers and the Middle East conflict - is larger than $1.6 billion internal company loss estimate reported by Bloomberg News in January.

Air India's controlling shareholder, Tata Group, as well as Singapore Airlines Ltd. - which owns 25.1% in the carrier - are in talks to inject some much-needed cash, said the people, who asked not to ...