Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya has launched a fresh attack on the Indian government, claiming that public sector banks and authorities have recovered at least ₹15,094.93 crore from his assets, far exceeding the original ₹6,203 crore “judgement debt” in the Kingfisher Airlines loan default case. In a detailed thread on X, the former liquor baron, who has been living in the UK since March 2016, accused the government of “hoodwinking” the public by continuing to portray him as a defaulter despite what he calls massive over-recovery. Mallya insists the numbers presented by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in Parliament prove his point and has demanded an independent probe by a retired Supreme Court judge to trace the “missing” ₹4,000 crore that banks have reportedly collected but not fully disclosed.

Breaking down the government’s own data, Mallya highlighted that State Bank of India alone has recovered ₹10,814.54 crore against a notional loss of ₹6,848.28 crore, while Bank of India retrieved ₹974.38 crore against ₹565.45 crore. Similar surpluses appear for UCO Bank and Union Bank of India, leading him to calculate a total recovery of ₹15,094.93 crore across 13 lending institutions. “The banks and government should be celebrating that they have recovered 244 per cent of the judgement debt,” he wrote, questioning why he is still labelled a fugitive economic offender when lenders have been made more than whole.

The Finance Ministry’s written reply in Parliament last week listed recoveries from 15 declared fugitive economic offenders as of October 31, 2025, with Mallya’s column showing no settlement and ongoing extradition proceedings. Indian authorities maintain that the headline recovery figure of ₹14,131.6 crore cited earlier by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman includes only realised cash and asset sales, whereas banks’ higher individual claims factor in interest, penalties, and notional valuation of attached properties. Legal experts point out that until the entire debt, including compounded interest, is formally written off by courts, the default continues on paper.

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Mallya’s renewed public offensive comes months after the Enforcement Directorate attached additional UK properties linked to him and weeks before a crucial hearing in his long-running extradition battle. By releasing detailed bank-wise tables, he appears to be attempting to shift the narrative ahead of potential legal milestones while simultaneously appealing directly to public opinion in India. The timing has raised eyebrows among investigators, who see it as a calculated move to pressure lending banks and complicate the government’s “fugitives will not be spared” stance.

Banks and the ministry have so far declined to respond to Mallya’s specific allegations, with officials privately dismissing them as a familiar tactic to delay justice. The consortium of 13 lenders, led by SBI, continues to pursue remaining attached assets, including shares, mutual funds, and overseas properties, through the Debt Recovery Tribunal and UK courts. The total outstanding, including penal interest, is still estimated to exceed ₹9,000 crore.

As the war of numbers plays out on social media and in courtrooms across two continents, one fact remains unchanged: nine years after fleeing India, Vijay Mallya remains the most high-profile name on the country’s fugitive economic offenders list, with the government determined to bring him back and banks insisting the recovery chapter is far from closed.

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