Why the Government should not turn down the offer made by Vijay Mallya

The media is once again going broad over Vijay Mallya’s statement reading the letter that he wrote to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2016, offering to settle his debts to the banks, vendors and employees if he is allowed to do so in a proper and respective manner.

The amount of money was the question as it is big enough for the warrant of the Prime Minister’s notice. He could have marked it as read and passed on further instructions to his finance minister in green ink to examine the matter and set up a system to see that Mallya’s debts are paid off. But he didn’t do it. He must have rather ditched the letter as if it was anthrax powder by post.

The reason Mallya ran away to London is not to flee from paying his debt. If that were so, staying back and calling the debts owed by some of his buddies would have far more easily done it.

Mallya is making an offer to the government which must not be refused. An arrangement must be made for him to return and be confined to any one of his residences here and to settle his debts and extinguish his woes, as has been done for Sahara’s Subrata Roy by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has been on the job prising out thousands of crores from Subroto Roy, who like Mallya had a penchant for the grandiose and extravagant.

For instance, on April 28, 2017 a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra accepted Roy’s request to submit two cheques with Sebi for paying Rs 1,500 crores by June 15, 2017 and another Rs 552 crores by July 15, 2017. It, eventually told Roy, who had been called to remain personally present in court: “We are warning you that if the cheque is not realised and money does not come, we will send you to Tihar Jail straightaway on June 19.” Something like this could have been done for Mallya.

There is no sign that the Prime Minister is avoiding their company, as he did with Mallya’s April 15, 2016 letter. In it, Mallya wrote: “I have been accused by politicians and the media alike of having stolen and run away with Rs 9,000 crores that was loaned to Kingfisher Airlines. Some of the lending banks have also labelled me a willful defaulter.” That much is true.

The popular narrative is that he milked the banks for Rs 9,000 crores to support his hedonistic lifestyle in India and abroad, and took off when the debt burden became excessive or no more money was forthcoming to evergreen his debts. The Rs 9,000 crores he is now found owing to the public sector banks and others is the money he lost on Kingfisher Airlines. The money lost under Mallya’s stewardship was a measly Rs 4,000 crores.

Except for Reliance Industries, the Tatas and Aditya Birla, all other major business houses are over leveraged and mortally indebted. If their boats get rocked now, many will capsize. The economy will slow down further. Mallya is relatively small fish. The big sharks are still circling the banks. Anil Ambani, Gautam Adani, GMR, GVK and Lanco are all well-known for being the big fish.