According to the Enforcement Directorate, banks in India recovered 71.82 billion ($967 million) from the sale of the defaulter and former billionaire Vijay Mallya’s share in United Breweries Ltd.
After banks claimed Vijay Mallya had cheated them, the Enforcement Directorate confiscated the shares. The majority of United Breweries’ stock, valued at 58.25 billion dollars, was sold today, with 13.57 billion dollars recovered in 2019. The remaining 8 billion shares are anticipated to be sold in the following two days, according to the investigation agency.
Vijay Mallya, dubbed the “King of Good Times” in India, was arrested in London, United Kingdom, in April 2017 and faces extradition. He is accused by a group of 17 banks of deliberately defaulting on more than 91 billion in debt accrued by Kingfisher Airlines, a full-service carrier he launched in 2005 and shut down seven years later. Despite having the financial resources, a deliberate defaulter refuses to repay loans.
Massive bad loans have been the most significant impediment to bank expansion, with lengthy legal and regulatory processes adding to the sluggish recovery. In addition to Vijay Mallya, the Enforcement Directorate has confiscated assets from two other former billionaires, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, under the money laundering statute.
The assets confiscated from the three defaulters are worth a total of 181.7 billion rupees (Rs 18,170.02 crore), accounting for nearly 80% of the entire loss suffered by banks, according to the Enforcement Directorate.
