Vijay Mallya

Vijay Mallya is the son of Vittal Mallya[2] from Bantwal, Mangalore and Lalitha Ramaiah. Vittal Mallya was the Chairman of United Breweries Group.[8][9] Vijay Mallya was educated at La Martinière Calcutta, where he was appointed House Captain of Hastings house in his final year, and at St. Xavier's College, Kolkata,[2][10] where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree (with honours) in 1976.[2][11] While in college, Mallya interned in his family's businesses. After graduating, he interned at the American part of Hoechst AG in the United States.[12]

In 1986, he met and married Sameera Sharma, an air hostess of Air India. They have one son, Siddharth Mallya, who was born on 7 May 1987.[13][14] They were divorced shortly afterwards, although Mallya has stated in interviews that he has a "great relationship" with his first wife.[15] In June 1993, Mallya married his current wife Rekha, whom he had known since childhood, and together they have two daughters, Leanna and Tanya.[2][16][17] Rekha was previously married twice, and also has a daughter and son, Leila and Kabir, from a previous marriage.[8][17] Mallya adopted Rekha's daughter Leila.[14] He is reported to be preparing to marry for the third time, to former Kingfisher Airlines air-hostess Pinky Lalwani.[18]

Generally characterized as having an extravagant lifestyle, Mallya was reported in 2005 to be someone who prays every day and conducts the entire 42-day Sabarimala fast every year while wearing only black clothing, and to be a devout follower of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living Foundation.[9]

Vijay Mallya is an ardent devotee of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati, Sabarimala Ayyappa and Kukke Subrahmanya. On his 59th birthday in 2012 he offered 3 kgs of gold bricks to Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala. In 2012 he also donated ₹8 million (US$110,000) gold-plated doors for Kukke Subrahmanya. These were done at a time when the Kingfisher Airlines owned by him had to be shut down due huge financial loses.[19][20]

He is the ex-chairman of United Spirits, the largest spirits company in India, and continues to serve as chairman of United Breweries Group, an Indian conglomerate with interests including beverage alcohol, aviation infrastructure, real estate and fertilizer. He has been the chairman of Sanofi India (previously known as Hoechst AG and Aventis) and the chairman of Bayer CropScience in India for over 20 years, and the chairman of several other companies.[7]

The son of businessman Vittal Mallya, he became the chairman of United Breweries Group in 1983 at the age of 28, following his father's death.[21] Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over 60 companies, with an annual turnover which increased by 64% over 15 years to US$11 billion in 1998–1999. Over the years, he has diversified and acquired Berger Paints, Best and Crompton in 1988; Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers in 1990; The Asian Age newspaper and the publisher of film magazines, and Cine Blitz, a Bollywood magazine in 2001.[22]

United's Kingfisher beer has a more than 50% market share in India.[23] It is available in 52 other countries, and leads among Indian beers in the international market.[23]

United Spirits Ltd, the flagship company of the UB Group, achieved the milestone of selling 100 million cases, becoming the second-largest spirits company in the world by volume, under Mallya's chairmanship.[23] In 2012, Mallya ceded management control of United Spirits Limited to global spirits giant Diageo, retaining a minority stake in the business.[24] In February 2015 Mallya was forced to resign as chairman of United Spirits, and he contracted to receive a $75 million severance payment as part of that deal, but the courts in India have blocked that payment.[25][26]

Kingfisher Airlines, established in 2005, was a major business venture launched by Mallya.[27] It eventually became insolvent and had to be closed down.[28][29] As of October 2013, it had not paid salaries to its employees for 15 months, had lost its licence to operate as an airline, and owed more than US$1 billion in bank loans.[24] By November 2015, the amount owed to the banks had grown to at least $1.35 billion, and there were other debts owed for taxes and to numerous small creditors.[25] As part of the Kingfisher collapse, Mallya is accused of being a "willful defaulter" under Indian law, including accusations of money laundering, misappropriation, etc.[25][30]

In March 2016, a consortium of banks approached the Supreme Court of India to stop Mallya from going abroad due to the pending money his companies owed them. As per media reports, he had already left India.[31] On 13 March 2016 a court in Hyderabad issued a non-bailable warrant for Mallya's arrest, but it appears he is remaining at his country estate near London, England, while his lawyer contests the warrant with a higher court.[32][33] On 18 April 2016, a special court in Mumbai also issued an undated non-bailable arrest warrant against the businessman. This was issued in response to a plea by the Enforcement Directorate on 15 April before the special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.[34] There were allegations on him that he transferred ₹4,000 crore (US$560 million) to tax havens.[35][36]

In June 2016, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reported it had "provisionally attached" ₹14.11 billion (US$200 million) rupees worth of Mallya's Indian assets and properties against unpaid loans totalling ₹8.07 billion (US$110 million).[37][38] On 3 September, it issued a second attachment order for a further ₹66.30 billion (US$930 million) worth of Mallya's assets, including a farmhouse, shares in United Breweries and multiple flats in Bengaluru valued at ₹5.65 billion (US$79 million).[39] By December 2016, the ED has attached a total of ₹96.61 billion (US$1.4 billion) worth of assets of Mallya and Kingfisher in India.[40] This is one of the largest attachment of assets made by the ED in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act case till now.[41] The ED also decided to send letters rogatory (LR) to the US, the UK and Europe requesting them to assist it in attachment of Mallya's over ten foreign assets.[42][43]

In July 2020, Indian media reported that Mallya had offered a settlement package of ₹139.60 billion (US$2.0 billion) as against a total principal amount of ₹90 billion (US$1.3 billion) to the consortium of Indian bankers pursuing litigation against him; this settlement was not accepted by the bankers.[44][45]

Mallya in 2010

Previously a member of the Akhila Bharata Janata Dal, Mallya joined the Subramanian Swamy-led Janata Party in 2003 and was its National Working President until 2010.[46][47][48] He was elected to the Rajya Sabha as independent member twice from his home state of Karnataka, first in 2002 with the support of the Janata Dal (Secular) and Indian National Congress and then in 2010 with the support of the Janata Dal (Secular) and BJP.[49]

On 2 May 2016, Mallya resigned from his post as a Rajya Sabha MP, a week after the Rajya Sabha ethics panel declared that he should no longer be a member of the House and one day before the panel was set to meet again to recommend his expulsion.[1] He had left India during this time,[50] and his passport had been revoked.[51] In his resignation letter, Mallya said he was "shocked that the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has provided factually wrong information to a Parliament Committee" and that he was resigning because he had concluded that he would "not get a fair trial or justice".[1]

Once called the "King of Good Times" due to his extravagant lifestyle, Mallya and his companies have been embroiled in financial scandals, and controversies since 2012.[50][9] Mallya left India on 2 March 2016 after saying he wanted to move to Britain to be closer to his children.[50] A group of 17 Indian banks are trying to collect approximately ₹90 billion (US$1.3 billion) in loans which Mallya has allegedly routed to gain 100% or a partial stake in about 40 companies across the world. Several agencies including the Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation are investigating Mallya for charges including financial fraud and money laundering,[52][53][50][54] and the Attorney General said that Mallya's assets abroad are "far in excess to loans taken by him".[50] The 17 banks added a joint petition at the Supreme Court of India in March 2016 to try to prevent Mallya from leaving the country, but the Indian government indicated that he had already left. The Enforcement Directorate of India also filed a money laundering case against him in March 2016 for allegedly sending abroad some ₹9 billion (US$130 million) that had been loaned to his airline.[50]

On 24 April 2016, the Ministry of External Affairs (India) revoked Mallya's passport,[55][56] and he resigned from the Rajya Sabha on 2 May 2016, the day before their Ethics Committee was prepared to recommend his expulsion.[1] Currently the Enforcement Directorate is seeking Interpol to raise an international arrest warrant against Mallya.[57][58] Also, the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya on 13 March 2016 for his failure to appear in the court regarding an allegation of cheating the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd by issuing them a dishonoured cheque for ₹5 million (US$70,000).[59]

On 13 June 2016, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court declared Mallya a "proclaimed offender" on a request by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its money laundering probe against him in an alleged ₹90 billion (US$1.3 billion) loan default case.[60]

Mallya co-owned the Formula One team Force India from 2007 to 2018. In the middle of the 2018 Formula One season, Sahara Force India went into administration due to financial trouble.[61] In August 2018 the team's assets were purchased by Racing Point F1 Team, and continued to race under the Force India name for the remainder of the 2018 season.[62][63] He is also known for having launched Kingfisher Airlines, a major business venture in 2005 that later became insolvent and was shut down in 2012.

Mallya has received several professional awards both in India and overseas:

• Honorary degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Business Administration, by the Southern California University for Professional Studies (1997).[2][23][80]
• "Officier de la Légion d'Honneur" (sometime prior to 2012), a high award of recognition in France (sometime prior to 2014).[23][80][2]
• "Global leader for tomorrow", World Economic Forum (sometime prior to 2014).[23][80]
• "Entrepreneur of the Year" award at The Asian Awards (2010).[81]

• List of people from Karnataka

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vijay Mallya.

• United Breweries (UB) Group
• United Spirits Limited (USL)
• Kingfisher Airlines Limited – KFA
• Mallya in Parliament
• McDowell Mohun Bagan