Mallya Blames Media, Seeks To Clarify Why Kingfisher Failed

By siliconindia | Monday, 07 March 2016, 04:05 Hrs

A consortium of 17 state-run and private banks loaned funds of 7,800 crore to Kingfisher, a public firm, but these loans were secured by blue chip securities.

After the airline's closure in 2012, the banks and their assignees recovered an aggregate of 1,244 crore from sale of pledged shares since April 2013, he said.

In addition, an aggregate of 600 crore is lying deposited in the Karnataka High Court since July 2013 and 650 crore of United Breweries Holdings has been deposited there since early 2014, being sums realised from proceeds received by the UB Holdings from sale of shares in United Spirits to Diageo in July 2013.

"Thus, the aggregate cash recovery/security available is 2,494 crore," Mallya claimed in the statement.

Observing that a disinformation campaign had made him a poster boy of all banks' NPAs (non-performing assets) despite pledging blue chip securities and depositing unspecified amounts in court, Mallya said banks have NPAs of 11 lakh crore and borrowers owe much more than Kingfisher.

"None of these large borrowers have been declared wilful defaulters, but unfortunately, UB Holdings and I have been declared wilful defaulters by certain banks on technical grounds. I have legally challenged these declarations," he said.

Clarifying all inquiries found no evidence of misappropriation of funds by his defunct airline or himself, he said hence allegations and innuendo to this effect were false.

"My group invested Rs 4,000 crore into the airline which stands impaired - it is not as though it is only the bank debt that has suffered. Banks will recover a substantial part of their debt - my groups loss is permanent," Mallya noted.

Lamenting for being painted as an absconder, Mallya said he had been a non-resident for around 28 years and the RBI had acknowledged this in writing.

"Over the years, I have built businesses in India and abroad. I am also honoured to be a member of the Rajya Sabha (from Karnataka for the second time)," he added.

Source: IANS