Is Vijay Mallya a scammer who fled — or a cautionary tale of what happens when a high-flying business crashes?For nine years, Mallya avoided the media — except for a few occasional tweets. Until now.In a rare, four-hour video interview with Raj Shamani, the former Kingfisher boss opened up about his side of the story.
And he didn’t hold back. “You may call me a fugitive,” he said, “but I didn't run away. I left on a prescheduled visit. I didn’t return — for reasons I consider valid… but where is the ‘chor’ coming from? Where is the ‘chori’?”He pointed to the numbers: He owed 6,200 crore rupees.
According to him, Indian banks have already recovered over 14,000 crore from his seized assets. He also claimed to have made four settlement offers between 2012 and 2015 — all rejected, he says, because banks were demanding the full amount.
Beyond the numbers, Mallya turned his attention to the system. He criticised India’s business environment, calling the ease of doing business “a myth,” and argued that success depends more on political alignment than business acumen.
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He even named names. Mallya said that during Kingfisher’s financial crisis, he approached then-Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with a plan to downsize operations — cut staff, reduce aircraft. But Mukherjee allegedly dismissed the proposal and told him to continue as is — a decision Mallya claims worsened the airline’s collapse.
There was also a moment of rare admission. He apologised to former Kingfisher employees — many of whom went years without pay.He also conceded that launching Kingfisher Airlines was a costly mistake.
Mallya, who fled to the UK in March 2016, is wanted in India over a default of Rs 9,000 crore that was loaned to esrtwhile Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) by several banks.
India has been seeking Mallya's extradition from the UK. He had in the past offered to repay 100 per cent of "public money" but accused the banks and government of refusing his offer.
In February, a London Court heard a set of complicated arguments involving a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India seeking repayment of an estimated judgment debt of around GBP 1.05 billion owed by the 69-year-old businessman’s now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
