Archive · 14 Aug 2026
₹15,000 crore recovery: Court tells Mallya, SBI to move on
A long time ago, Vijay Mallya owned an airline called Kingfisher Airlines.
The airline borrowed a lot of money from banks, which it could not pay back.
The banks wanted their money back, and the government took control of some of Mr. Mallya's belongings.
Mr. Mallya went to court in 2020 to argue about how the banks were collecting the money.
A judge in Mumbai said it was time for everyone to stop arguing and move on.
Mr. Mallya's lawyer said the banks had already gotten back ₹15,000 crore, which is more than the money originally owed.
The judge asked the enforcement agency to say whether the whole matter was settled.
The judge also said the criminal case against Mr. Mallya would still continue.
The Bombay High Court told Vijay Mallya and the SBI-led consortium that the ₹15,000 crore recovery dispute needs to be put to an end.
Mallya's 2020 petition challenged a special PMLA court order allowing lenders to use Enforcement Directorate-confiscated assets for debt recovery.
Mallya's counsel claimed public sector banks recovered about ₹15,000 crore against original claimed dues of ₹6,203.35 crore, excluding interest.
The court directed the Enforcement Directorate to file an affidavit on whether the settlement process had concluded.
The court said closing the commercial dispute would not affect criminal proceedings, which must be taken to their logical end.
- Who
- Vijay Mallya and the State Bank of India-led lender consortium, before Justice Milind Jadhav of the Bombay High Court
- What
- The court urged both sides to end the long-running commercial dispute over recovery of Kingfisher Airlines dues from Enforcement Directorate-confiscated assets
- When
- Mallya filed the petition in 2020; the dispute stems from the ED's February 2019 consent to liquidate confiscated assets, and he was declared a fugitive economic offender in January 2019
- Where
- Bombay High Court, India; Mallya remains in the United Kingdom
- Why
- To resolve the recovery dispute over Kingfisher Airlines loans because, in the court's words, otherwise "the relations and the economy of the country suffer"
Mallya's Defence
Banks and Legal Process
Closing the commercial dispute
Mallya's Defence
Banks have already recovered around ₹15,000 crore, so keeping the matter pending is unfortunate; an RBI audit itself describes the case as an airline business failure.
Banks and Legal Process
The dispute must run its legal course, and even if the commercial matter ends, the court says criminal prosecution against Mallya must still be taken to its logical end.
Fairness of the recovery
Mallya's Defence
Banks took away ₹15,000 crore, more than twice the original ₹6,203.35 crore principal, and now saying they are sorry is not good enough.
Banks and Legal Process
The accounting of recoveries, interest and liabilities remains part of the wider legal proceedings, so the amounts cannot be treated as fully settled.
- Recovered amount (per Mallya's counsel)
- ₹15,000 crore
- Original claimed dues
- ₹6,203.35 crore (excluding interest)
- Petition filed
- 2020
- ED consent to liquidate assets
- February 2019
- Fugitive economic offender declaration
- January 2019
- CBI FIR registered
- July 2015
- Mallya left India
- March 2016
- Mallya's current location
- United Kingdom