‘How long will the govt hoodwink me’: Vijay Mallya says there’s a mismatch in how much he owes and how much was recovered

Vijay Mallya took to social media to say that the Indian government and Indian public banks are “cheating” him and the public. The fugitive businessman, who owes millions of rupees to banks, said there was a mismatch between the amount recovered from him and the amount he still owed. In fact, he has repeated similar accusations in the past as well.

“For how long will the GoI and PSU banks fool me and the public. The Finance Minister tells parliament that Rs 14,100 crore has been recovered from me. Banks say Rs 10,000 crore has been recovered. What about the difference of Rs 4,000 crore? Now, MOS is telling Parliament that I still owe Rs 10,000 crore while the banks claim that I owe Rs 7,000. There is no statement of account or credit for the refunds,” he said. Why not appoint a retired judge to investigate and find out the truth, especially since my judgment debt was Rs 6,203 crore.”

His position comes after the Finance Ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that fugitive economic criminals owe more than Rs 58,082 crore to Indian public sector banks. This amount includes Rs 26,645 crore of principal and Rs 31,437 crore of interest accumulated as of October 31, 2025. The figures highlight the ongoing financial burden on state-owned banks due to major fraud cases.

The ministry said 15 individuals have been declared fugitive economic offenders under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018. Nine of them are linked to major frauds related to public sector banks. The list includes famous names like Nirav Modi, along with Vijay Mallya.

Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines accounts represent one of the biggest exposures. The State Bank of India announced major receivables of Rs 6,848.28 crore. With interest, the total amount rises to Rs 11,960.05 crore. Other public sector banks have also reported large unpaid amounts related to Mallya.

Nirav Modi owes over Rs 7,800 crore mainly through entities like Firestar and other diamond companies. The single largest amount is Rs 6,799.18 crore under the ‘non-borrowing fraud’ category at Punjab National Bank. His outstanding receivables also appear in State Bank of India, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, etc.

Companies linked to the Sandesara family, including Sterling Biotech, Sterling SEZ and Sterling Global Oil Resources, have multiple loan accounts across public sector banks. The largest exposures are Rs 1,392.78 crore to Bank of India and Rs 982.50 crore to State Bank of India.

The Finance Ministry said that banks have recovered Rs 19,187 crore from all the fugitive economic criminals so far. This leaves about Rs 38,895 crore of outstanding principal and interest yet to be recovered.

The government told the House of Representatives that only two of the fugitive criminals had entered into one-off settlements with banks. Nitin and Chetan Sandesara settled with the Indian Bank, while Sterling Global Oil Resources Pvt Ltd negotiated with the State Bank of India.