Vijay Mallya must pay in full, says PNB chief

New Delhi, May 18: Dismissing Vijay Mallya's offer of part payment of bank loans, Punjab National Bank (PNB) today said he must pay the full amount and settle the dues. "Although we are not leader of the consortium, we want he should pay full," PNB MD Usha Ananthasubramanian said.

PNB had an exposure of Rs 800 crore to the Mallya promoted Kingfisher Airlines, which had to close shop under huge debt burden and payment defaults.

A consortium of 17 banks led by State Bank of India last month had rejected the proposal in the current form offered by liquor baron Vijay Mallya and his companies to pay Rs 4,000 crore by September towards settlement of his loan before the Supreme Court.

Later, he revised the offer to Rs 6,868 crore to the Supreme Court which was also rejected by the banks.

Kingfisher Airlines has defaulted on loans of over Rs 9,400 crore obtained from various banks and Mallya has left India for Britain where he is staying with his family. Talking about steps taken by PNB on wilful default, Ananthasubramanian said many cases are pending before Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT).

The bank through the help of DRTs have impounded 250 passports of such wilful defaulters and 500 cases are before various courts. As of December, PNB has a list of about 900 wilful defaulters who together owe close to Rs 11,000 crore to the lender.

PTI