Mallya takes a dig at SBI, asks what about loan recovery from others

Mumbai: What about loan recovery from those other than Kingfisher?, wondered its promoter Vijay Mallya while taking a dig at bank chiefs in his tweet for their “constant speak” to media on getting back dues from the grounded airline.

“I seriously wonder what motivates the bank chairmen to constantly speak to the media on loan recovery from Kingfisher Airlines. What about others?” Mallya tweeted.

“We are blazing all guns and taking all steps to recovery (of Kingfisher loans),” Pratip Chaudhuri, Chairman of SBI, the lead lender to Kingfisher, had said yesterday. Posing a question on why Kingfisher should not be given a chance to resume operations, Mallya tweeted back: “SBI Chairman – All guns blazing on Kingfisher loan recovery. All my guns blazing on restart/rehabilitation. Why should v b denied a chance? (sic).”

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Kingfisher Airlines owes a whopping Rs 7,500 crore to a consortium of 17 public banks, mostly state-run banks. It is grounded since last October and its licence also expired on December 31, 2012.

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Chaudhuri’s assertion on loan recovery from Kingfisher also coincided with Finance Minister P Chidambaram asking banks to take firm steps to recover loans from wilful defaulters. “The country cannot afford to have affluent promoters and sick companies,” Chidambaram had said yesterday after meeting heads of PSU banks and financial institutions in New Delhi.

PTI