SBI consortium to take over Kingfisher House

Clamping down on Vijay Mallya-led UB Group to recover loans, a 17-bank consortium led by state-run SBI on Tuesday initiated the process of taking over physical possession of the prized Kingfisher House, worth Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion).

The move to take possession of over this 17,000-sq ft Kingfisher House at Vile Parle, near the domestic airport here, is part of the efforts by the bank consortium to recover the Rs 6,800 crore (Rs 68 billion) loan they had granted to the long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines.

The lenders had started the recovery process way back in February 2013 after the airline stopped servicing the debt.

Kingfisher House is one of the prime real estates of the airline, which was once touted as the most luxurious carrier in the country and one of the crown jewels of Mallya-led United Breweries Group. The airline was grounded in October 2012 while its flying permit was cancelled in December that year.

When contacted, a senior SBI official confirmed the development. "On behalf of the lenders' consortium, we were supposed to take possession of Kingfisher House today... We will be taking physical possession of the property," SBI's Deputy Managing Director & Group Executive for Stressed Assets Management Parveen Kumar Malhotra told PTI.

When asked about the status of the Income Tax and Service Tax Departments' claim on the same property, Malhotra said they have to discuss that with the tax authorities and any decision will be taken only after that.

In December 2013, the IT Department had moved a Bangalore court seeking to direct banks to first settle its dues of Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.5 billion) after the lenders sought to take possession of Kingfisher House citing that the property was attached by the department under the IT Act.