SBI-led banks tell Bombay High Court ₹8,752 crore still recoverable from Vijay Mallya: Report

A State Bank of India (SBI)-led consortium of lenders has informed the Bombay High Court that nearly ₹8,752 crore remains recoverable from fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya as of August, according to a report by the Economic Times. The latest development counters Mallya's claims that banks have fully reclaimed their dues.

The disclosure comes as Mallya, the founder of defunct Kingfisher Airlines and former Chairman of United Breweries Group, seeks the dismissal of criminal proceedings against him. In 2020, Mallya approached the Bombay High Court and argued that his dispute with the consortium had been settled following asset recoveries.

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However, in an affidavit filed following HC directions, banks clarified that while a debt recovery officer has "temporarily recovered" Rs 10,270 crore — backed by a bond undertaking — and another ₹544.58 crore was recovered prior to filing a suit in the Debt Recovery Tribunal, substantial amounts remain unpaid, as per the ET report.

As of January 2026, ₹8,135.63 crore remained outstanding. Excluding legal and other expenses, that figure climbed to ₹8,751.86 crore by August 31 due to subsequent accruals, the report added.

Opposing Mallya’s plea to quash his money laundering case, the consortium told the court that his challenge to an earlier order dated December 31, 2019, is misconceived. The lenders also noted that certain attached shares in the case remain intact and have not been sold.

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The legal battle continues on two parallel tracks: civil recovery of bank dues and criminal prosecution by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over alleged bank fraud, criminal conspiracy, and money laundering.

While the ED notes that assets worth approximately ₹14,132 crore have been restored to SBI, it maintained before the high court that civil recoveries do not erase criminal liability under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), as per the ET report. Mallya, who was declared a fugitive economic offender in 2019, maintains that recoveries exceeding the original decreed debt warrant a closure of proceedings.

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“The restoration of assets under Section 8(8) of the PMLA is a statutory mechanism for restitution to a claimant having a legitimate interest in the property and does not, by itself, determine the existence of the scheduled offence or the offence of money laundering,” the ED said in its reply, a copy of which ET has seen. “The subsequent restoration/ recovery of assets, therefore, cannot be construed as extinguishing or rendering infructuous the pending proceedings under the PMLA.”

The High Court is scheduled to hear the matter next on October 13.