United Bank of India has identified Vijay Mallya’s UB group holding company, United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd (UBHL), as a wilful defaulter.
The defaulter tag comes after the group’s grounded airline, Kingfisher Airlines and its guarantor UBHL, failed to repay loans taken by the carrier.
The bank had declared Kingfisher; its three directors, and Mallya as “wilful defaulters” in September this year.
According to Deepak Narang, Executive Director, United Bank, the airline and its guarantor failed to make a payment of around ₹65 crore and its interest. This amount was lent outside a consortium of lenders that has given money to the airline.
The consortium, led by State Bank of India (SBI), has to recover loans to the tune of over ₹6,500 crore from Kingfisher.
United Bank has an exposure of ₹350 crore in the consortium lending.
“Based on the analysis of their balance sheet, we have identified UB Holdings as a wilful defaulter. The matter will soon be taken up before the grievance redressal committee,” Narang told Business Line .
UBHL’s response to the bank’s notice has not been satisfactory and, hence, the matter is expected to be taken up before the grievance redressal committee soon, he added.