Vijay Mallya, who had been declared a wilful loan defaulter by Indian banks has proven himself a perfect Indian who knows his way around bargains. He has offered to repay 4000 crores out of the 9000 crores to Indian banks.
The former liquor baron and industrialist owes 17 Indian banks over 9000 crores in debt, after his airline Kingfisher went bust and the banks stepped in to bail it out. Kingfisher was grounded in 2012, and since then Mallya, the banks and the beleaguered employees have been stuck on a dead-end of no payments. Recently when Diageo, the present owner of previously Mallya owned alcohol company United Spirits, decided to do away with Mallya in exchange for a 550 crore severance package, there was a furore. No sooner than the banks had called dibs on the money, Mallya had left the country purportedly on business. Since then Mallya has been in London, mainly keeping his public communication limited to cricket, Kingfisher events and the rare comeback about the loan situation.
My son Sid does not deserve all this hatred and abuse. He has had nothing to do with my business. Shower abuse on me if you must but not him
— Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) March 29, 2016
After a 2 week rigmarole of court cases, outrage against Mallya, SBI’s failed attempt to recover a part of the loans by auctioning his Mumbai property and uncertainty about Mallya’s intentions, the man of the hour has come back with an offer for truce.
Vijay Mallya has offered before the Supreme Court a Rs 4,000 crore settlement by September 30th, to banks that are seeking more than Rs 9,000 crores in dues that stem from loans made to Kingfisher airlines.
While the details of this repayment plan and its acceptance by the Indian banks are yet to emerge, from a situation where the loans were almost waiting to be written off as bad debt, things are looking up. The allegedly bankrupt Mallya – save for his 550 crores severance package from Diageo – isn’t so broke after all. His other still-existing businesses, The Indian Formula 1 team Sahara Force One and the IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore may make save the day for Mallya.