Pay dues or face action: FM to Mallya
NEW DELHI: 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 banks,” he told PTI in an interview here.
He said banks have certain collaterals of group companies of Vijay Mallya and will take legal action to recover dues that are now in excess of ` 9,000 crore. “Banks have some securities. Banks plus other agencies have also coercive methods available with them through legal enforce-ment...these are all being investi- gated by relevant agencies.”
Mallya, promoter of nowdefunct Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), had left India on March 2, presumably for London, days before the Supreme Court heard a plea from a clutch of state-owned banks seeking recovery from his group firms.
Mallya and KFA owe ` 7,800 crore to a consortium of 17 lenders led by State Bank, which had an exposure of over ` 1,600 crore to the now defunct airline.
The finance minister said the government has been trying to address the problem of non-performing assets (NPAs) in sectors such as steel, textile, highways and infrastructure, which are on account of economic slowdown.