Vijay Mallya offers Rs 4000 crore to settle pending dues with banks

QUICK PILL

• The settlement offer made by Vijay Mallya was apparently turned down by the consortium of banks - led by SBI.
• Mallya\'s counsel said the proposal for the payment of Rs 4,000 crore by September was made to the chief general manager of the State Bank of India (SBI).

Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya has reportedly reached out to banks and offered to pay Rs 4000 crore - a little over half of the Rs 7,000 crore he owes the consortium of 13 banks, as reported by news channels.

Senior bank executives, meanwhile told The Financial Express that the offer was turned down by the consortium of banks - headed by SBI. Banks have been making efforts to recover the amount due and the Enforcement Directorate has already launched its investigation into Mallya's finances.

"We cannot accept such a small amount and have rejected the proposal," one of the banking executives was quoted as saying.

In the past few weeks, Vijay Mallya has claimed that he and his companies are being labeled wilful defaulters only on technical grounds.

The State Bank of India had alleged that funds were diverted several times from Kingfisher Airlines to various UB Group companies and other firms.

The apex court bench of Justice Kurien Joseph and Rohington F. Nariman was also told that Mallya has offered another Rs 2,000 crore that he expects to get, if he succeeds in his suit against multinational General Electric.

Mallya's counsel said the proposal for the payment of Rs 4,000 crore by September was made to the chief general manager of the State Bank of India (SBI).

The SBI told the court that it needed a week's time to consider the proposal made by Vijay Mallya, and submitted that way back in 2013 the bank had filed a suit claiming Rs 6,903 crore plus interest thereon.

In a query from the bank about Mallya's location, his counsel told the court that he was still abroad but had two video conferencing sessions with the bank officials after his departure from India to London.

- With agency inputs