Businessman Vijay Mallya, who is facing various fraud charges in India and is absconding, has denied allegations of theft while also issuing a rare public apology for the failure of Kingfisher Airlines. He also defended his “valid" reasons for not returning to India and claimed that he would consider getting back if he is assured of a fair trial and “dignified existence" in the country.
“I apologise to everyone for the failure of Kingfisher Airlines," Mallya said during a four-hour-long podcast with Raj Shamani, which was put online on Thursday.
“If I have assurance of a fair trial and a dignified existence in India, you may be right, but I don’t," he said, when asked if his troubles got worse because he did not return to India.
He also acknowledged that it was “fair" to call him a fugitive but questioned the term “thief" used for him in the political corridors.
“Call me a fugitive for not going to India post-March 2016. I didn’t run away, I flew out of India on a prescheduled visit. Fair enough, I did not return for reasons that I consider are valid, so if you want to call me a fugitive, go ahead, but where is the ‘chor’ coming from? Where is the ‘chori’?" he said.
Mallya is facing charges of allegedly defaulting on loans worth over Rs 9,000 crore that were given to Kingfisher Airlines by a group of Indian banks. He has been residing in the United Kingdom since 2016, where he is facing extradition proceedings.
Despite several legal defeats, including a UK court’s 2018 decision approving his extradition, Mallya is still resisting being sent back to India. He has claimed that he would not be subjected to a fair trial in India.
On April 9 this year, in another blow to his legal battles, Mallya lost an appeal against a London High Court bankruptcy order in a case involving over Rs 11,101 crore owed to lenders, including the State Bank of India (SBI).
The businessman has been locked in a long-running dispute with Indian banks since the collapse of his Kingfisher Airlines in 2012.
Earlier in February 2025, Mallya approached the Karnataka High Court, seeking details about how much money banks had recovered from him. His legal team argued that while the original debt stood at Rs 6,200 crore, banks have already recovered Rs 14,000 crore—more than double the amount owed. They claimed that despite this, recovery actions were still continuing and requested the court to instruct banks to provide a detailed statement of recovered funds.
India has been making efforts to extradite him from the UK for his alleged loan defaults and financial fraud.
Source: News18