‘It was always my intention to settle’: In new podcast, Vijay Mallya speaks on Kingfisher Airlines case after 9 years

The founder and former owner of Kingfisher Airlines also said that he had met the chairperson of the State Bank of India at their training academy in Hyderabad and offered a settlement which was not accepted. “They wanted the Rs 14,000 crore which is why they didn’t accept,” he added.

Earlier in February this year, Mallya, through his counsel, told the Karnataka High Court that though the sum of around Rs 6,200 crore owed to the banks had already been recovered, a statement regarding the recovery of Rs 14,000 crore was made by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha in December last year.

Mallya faces charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy, money laundering and diversion of loan funds. A few of his companies, including Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries (Holdings) Limited, face charges of violating The Companies Act, 2013, and norms laid down by the capital markets regulator.

In a post on X after the podcast episode released, he wrote: “For those who are interested, I have spoken for the first time in nine years on this podcast. I want to say sorry to employees of Kingfisher Airlines and also to set the record straight with facts and the truth.” Mallya, who has maintained his stance of denying any wrongdoing, has been living in the United Kingdom since March 2016.

On what went wrong with Kingfisher Airlines

Mallya claimed that he went to the then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee (who served between 2009-12) saying that he needed to downsize the airlines which was not doing “great” at the time. Mukherjee allegedly told him that he can continue “as is and that’s how it all started”.

Responding to Shamani’s query on the series of events that led to the downfall of the airlines, Mallya said a group of 15 to 16 government banks were part of the consortium of lenders.” Kingfisher Airlines never borrowed any money from SBI. Just to set the record straight,” he said.

Elaborating on the set-up then, he said that the SBI was a lender to Air Deccan (later called Simplify Deccan). When Kingfisher and Deccan merged in April 2008, the SBI became a lender to the whole entity. “The two different groups of banks that both the airlines had borrowed money from combined as one entity when the two merged,” Mallya explained.

On the loans received, Mallya again referred to then FM Mukherjee and said: “The consortium of 17 banks believed in the vision, they did their own appraisals.”

“There were times when the support from the then FM meant that when I presented to various banks that the airlines needed money, including the SBI, they would recognise it, appraise them correctly through SBI Capital Markets, and sanction loans, even though the credit worthiness of the airlines was short of the norms,” he elaborated.

“To that extent, I’m grateful,” Mallya said, adding that he “infused” Rs 3,000 crore from his UB Holdings Limited “in cash”.

“You talk about money siphoning, using Kingfisher money for my lifestyle, for Formula 1, but nobody talks about the money I infused in cash to keep it afloat,” he told Shamani.

” I gave my personal guarantee, UB Group also did. Please never forget, I gave my personal guarantee… Koyi chor kabhi apna personal guarantee deta hai kya? (Does any thief ever give personal guarantee?)”

Further, he cited entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar Shaw who has said often publicly that Mallya put everything on the line for Kingfisher. “But that’s not appreciated. That’s sad. Let the narrative be whatever it is,” he added.

“That is why I say I haven’t bothered about it in the last nine years because it is written by the Indian media, of course, prompted by the government who held their own press conferences etc.”

On the collaterals involved in the bank loans, the businessman said the Kingfisher brand name was one it among stocks, shares and property. The Rs 14,000 crore recovered by the banks, he said, involves his personal shares. “Nobody dreams up share values. That’s your answer to all the narratives.” he pointedly remarked.

The podcast episode also has Mallya showing Shamani documents from the official Debt Recovery Tribunal, Bengaluru.

“Vijay Mallya has not borrowed a single rupee from anybody ever” Kingfisher Airlines, the company, borrowed and I was the guarantor, there’s a big difference,” Mallya asserted.

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