Pay up or face action, Jaitley tells Mallya

In a stern warning to wilful defaulters like Vijay Mallya, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said they should settle their dues honourably with the banks or else be ready to face “coercive action” by lenders and investigative agencies. 

“I don’t want to make any comments on individual cases but I think it’s a responsibility of large groups like his (Vijay Mallya’s) to honourably settle their dues with the banks,” he told PTI in an interview here. 

He further said that banks have certain collaterals of group companies of Vijay Mallya and will take legal action to recover dues that are in excess of Rs 9,000 crore. “Banks have some securities. 

Banks plus other agencies have also coercive methods available with them through legal enforcement. These are all being investigated by relevant agencies,” he said. 

Mallya, promoter of long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had left India on March 2, presumably for London, days before the Supreme Court heard a plea of a clutch of state-owned banks seeking recovery from his group firms. 

Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines owed Rs 7,800 crore to a consortium of 17 lenders led by State Bank, which had an exposure of over Rs 1,600 crore to the now defunct airline. Jaitley said the govt has been trying to address problem of NPAs in sectors such as steel, textile, highways and infrastructure.