United Bank of India publicly admitted that it no longer expects to recover its dues from Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines.
United Bank of India was the first one to attempt to tag the Kingfisher Airlines as a willful defaulter. This attempt was challenged in court by Mallya and UB Group. Now, interestingly, among the 17 lenders, it is the first one to publicly confess that it has no hope of getting anything from the Mallya.
So far, the lenders have received only Rs 1,000 crore out of the airlines’ exposure of over Rs 7,500 crore.
United Bank of India managing director and chief executive officer P. Srinivas told PTI, “Now, nothing is happening on the Kingfisher account and we are not getting any amount. We may ultimately get a few more crores by selling that building (Kingfisher House in Mumbai) and other collaterals”.
“But when you look at the total loan amount, what we may ultimately recover is just equivalent to interest component. In last two years, we lost interest payment and we may be able to recover that much and the principal amount we may not,” he added.
The bank had extended Rs 400 crore to Kingfisher Airlines while it was still flying. The airline was grounded in October 2012.