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Meet Billionaire Owner Of The World's Most Expensive Yacht Amevi; It's Worth Rs 1,000 Crore

It's not news that the world's top billionaires own ridiculously expensive things, from luxury cars to opulent houses and private jets. We have all witnessed that the ultra-rich have a penchant for all things luxury.

But the world's most expensive yacht, the Amevi superyacht, can put even the most extravagant things. And it is owned by none other than the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.  Here's all about Amevi.

All about  superyacht  Amevi

Mittal owns a 262-metre Amevi superyacht worth around Rs 1,000 crore. The yacht has a swimming pool, gymnasium, spa and cinema hall. Amevi features a magnificent sky lounge, offering panoramic views and a large terrace to get to the sun decks. It also features a massage room, salon, helipad, and stabilised pool table.

The Amevi superyacht was built in 2007 by Oceanco, a shipyard based in the Netherlands and designed by Nuvolari Lenard. Oceanco is a team of experts who merge the expertise of old-world Dutch craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology to create unparalleled masterpieces.  

Renowned luxury yacht designer Alberto Pinto has designed the interiors of Amevi. It accommodates 16 guests in its 8 VIP rooms and can carry over 20 crew members.

The owner's suite on the upper deck features a cut above the rest with a full-beam design. It also includes a lounge and private outdoor space with two jacuzzis.

The yacht has twin MTU 16V 595 TE70 engines with a total power of 9,100 HP (6,800 kW). The yacht reaches a maximum speed of 18.5 knots or 34.3 kmph, with a cruising speed of around 14 knots or 26 kmph.

Ranked the 7th richest Indian globally, Mittal has embarked on voyages to India, Spain, Gibraltar, and Norway aboard his lavish yacht.

Most expensive yachts by Indian billionaires

Other prominent Indian billionaires who possess yachts include Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Adi Godrej and Gautam Singhania, among others.

Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, reportedly owns an ultra-luxury yacht shaped like a horseshoe, boasting a mind-boggling cost of $100 million. Stretching an impressive 58 meters, the yacht is replete with luxurious amenities, including private suites, a spa, a 25-meter swimming pool, and a lounge bar.

Not to be outdone, his younger brother Anil Ambani, accompanied by his wife Tina Ambani, also purchased a yacht named TIAN, though the exact cost, rumoured to be around Rs 200 crore, remains undisclosed.

Former billionaire Vijay Mallya once used to own a yacht named the Empress of India, which he had bought for an undisclosed amount in 2006. Mallya said in 2018 that the 95-metre yacht was sold for 43.5 million.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit  Indiatimes News.

Senior Writer at Indiatimes. She writes on International Affairs and human interest stories shared on social media.

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What it will cost to rent the 114-yr-old yacht owned by Richard Burton, Liz Taylor and Vijay Mallya

By Suruchi Kapur Gomes

If the Kalizma could write her memoir, the 114-year-old classic motor yacht would time-travel to her youth with The Royal Navy in World War I and II and then her betwixt era when actor Richard Burton bought it in 1967 with his lady love Liz Taylor and named her "Kalizma" after their children Kate, Liza and Maria. Then came an era of decadence when Vijay Mallya restored this 1906-built cruiser in 2006 to make her among the finest vintage luxury motor yachts. Its present owner has refitted and restored the vessel under the doting eye of Captain Surendra Saini, an ex-Navy man.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor aboard Kalizma off the coast of Capo Caccia in Sardinia. Photo: David Cairns/Express/Getty Images

Luxury yacht Kalizma, now owned by Raymond Limited

Liz Taylor aboard the Kalizma as it leaves Monte Carlo in 1969. Photo: David Bagnall/Alamy Stock Photo

Richard Burton and Liz Taylor relax aboard the Kalizma off the coast of Capo Caccia in Sardinia, during the filming of 'Goforth', later titled 'Boom'. Photo: David Cairns/Getty Images

Holiday-seekers can soak in the turquoise beauty of the Maldives off this vintage beauty till April 2021, till when it will be anchored there. When Indian ports open for cruise ships, you will find her docked in Goa. The Kalizma yacht offers customised charters (5- 7- 15- 21-day packages). Each day is spent exploring a different atoll after guests are picked up at Malé. Then onward.

The Kalizma's lounge deck

Sneha Thomas

Julian Manning

Jahnavi Bhatt

Aishwarya Venkatraman

The well-appointed saloon aboard Kalizma

The master bedroom

The attached bathroom

Guests can go jet-skiing, wakeboarding, snorkelling , kayaking, diving or ask for dreamy beach barbeques. A large mahogany table seats 12 for a gourmet meal; the master suite is dusted in ivory and comes with a marble bath with gold fittings. The salon, with its white wooden bar, an afterdeck and large portholes with vibrant niches, is a luxurious home on sails. The real and unbeatable luxury though is its pedigree.

Guests can go jet-skiing, wakeboarding, snorkelling, kayaking, diving or ask for dreamy beach barbeques

Former owners: The Royal Navy, Richard Burton and Elizebeth Taylor, and Vijay Mallya Current owner: 2S Holdings Span: 165ft Capacity: 10 guests Rate: US$12,000 (Rs8.9 lakh) per hour

Contact: +91 9920186261 or +91 9819974393 for charters; website or West Coast Marine

The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

Vijay mallya's abandoned luxury yacht seized over unpaid wages.

There are more than 40 crew on the yacht and other associated individuals who are owed anything between USD 6,250 to more than USD 92,000.

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F1 tycoon Vijay Mallya’s superyacht impounded over wage dispute

Luxury $93m vessel seized in row over businessman’s failure to pay crew $1m in wages

A $93m (£67m) superyacht owned by Indian multimillionaire Vijay Mallya has been impounded in Malta in a dispute over the businessman’s failure to pay the crew more than $1m in wages.

Mallya’s 95-metre Indian Empress was boarded by port officials and prevented from leaving Malta on Tuesday as part of the crew’s legal action to recover unpaid wages.

More than 40 crew, including several Britons, Indians and eastern European workers, have not been paid since September when Mallya – who is fighting extradition from the UK to India – abandoned the vessel.

Some of the senior crew, who have not left the vessel since it was abandoned, are owed up to $92,000 in unpaid wages.

Mallya, a co-owner of the Force India Formula One team and self-proclaimed “King of the Good Times”, was arrested in London last year over allegations he supported his F1 team with money-laundered cash.

Indian authorities are seeking his extradition to face trial in India. Mallya is on bail pending an extradition hearing scheduled to begin in April.

Danny McGowan, strategic organiser of the maritime union Nautilus International, said crew were left with no choice but to ask the courts to hold the Isle of Man-registered superyacht ransom.

The yacht, which features a 15-seat cinema and Sir Elton John’s baby grand piano , has been impounded in a “maritime lien” which gives the crew claim over the vessel to the value of the unpaid wages.

“Our members onboard gave their employer and the ship owner multiple opportunities to pay monthly wages, displaying a loyalty and restraint greater than many would show in such situations,” McGowan said.

“These opportunities were regularly ignored by the owner, leaving us with no option but to take the case to the courts.”

McGowan said it was the first that the financial security provisions of the Maritime Labour Convention have been enacted to help crew on an abandoned superyacht.

He said the union had secured $615,000, which covers four months worth of unpaid wages from the vessel’s insurers under the international Maritime Labour Convention.

But he said Nautilus members were still owed an additional $330,000 and non-union crew members were owed hundreds of thousands more.

Charles Boyle, Nautilus’s legal director, said: “The superyacht sector is seen as one of glamour and glitz, but the sad reality is that crew members can experience exploitation and abuse, and that is why Nautilus has become increasingly involved in such justice case.”

A representative for Mallya did not respond to requests for comment. The 62-year-old businessman is on bail and living in a £11.5m mansion in the Hertfordshire village of Tewin, nearly Welwyn, 20 miles north of London.

Mallya, who was once known as the “Branson of Bangalore” for his business and sport empire that included Kingfisher beer and the Kingfisher airline, bought the Indian Empress in 2006.

He spent more than £5m refitting the yacht in 2015, which included making space for Sir Elton John’s black Yamaha Disklavier, which the singer had used to write the Songs from the West Coast album. Mallya bought the piano for €226,000 at a charity auction .

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Vijay Mallya's Abandoned Yacht Impounded In Malta Over Unpaid Wages

The 95-metre vessel named 'indian empress' was "arrested" in malta as a maritime professionals' union makes attempts to recover over $330,000 in unpaid wages and other costs on behalf of its members..

The 95-metre vessel named 'Indian Empress' was arrested in Malta to recover unpaid wages.

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Vijay Mallya: The tycoon who gave big business a bad name

Mallya's crime was that he let down everyonehis shareholders, employees, lenders and all those who champion free markets.

The UB Group is done for. In his lifetime, Vijay Mallya inherited it, and as Mint put it memorably in an earlier piece , “made it bigger, had fun, lost an empire, and walked away into the sunset (almost)". In this unfolding tale, you could see him as a tragic hero in the Shakespearean mode, a Macbeth, brought to his knees by hamartia. Or you could view him as spoilt scion who squandered a group’s sterling reputation and by choosing flamboyance over farsightedness, glamour over governance, was reduced to selling the flagship to save the fleet.

Either way, you would do well not to shed too many tears for the self-styled king of good times. Eventually, even for him, it was time for last drinks, but Mallya refused to leave.

For this is a man who always wanted more. At its peak, the UB Group was a sprawling conglomerate with interests in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, paints, petrochemicals and plastics, batteries, food and carbonated beverages. Besides liquor from United Breweries, McDowell’s and Carew, it sold squashes, ketchup and jams from Kissan and Dipy’s, pesticides from Finit, Singer sewing machines, chocolates from Cadbury and drugs from Hoechst and Roussel (read more on where those went here ).

But that was not enough for him. He wanted all the latest toys in the store—so a little dalliance with telecom, engineering services, cricket, Formula 1 racing and, of course, the passion for flying. And there too it wasn’t just about buying a plane. He had to have an entire airline.

There was the phase in the 1990s when he dabbled in politics. He was close to Ramakrishna Hegde, the colourful and charismatic chief minister of Karnataka. The proximity to a powerful politician was important when you were in the liquor trade and it paid off for Mallya. Except that it wasn’t enough for him to be close to a powerful politician—he had to be the powerful politician. So, at some point, he nursed hopes to be the next chief minister of the state. It was a time in which the normally flashy dresser could be seen in a veshti on his frequent travels to the hinterland. He also sought to establish his patriotic credentials by spending millions to bring the sword of Tipu Sultan back to India from the UK.

But perhaps the realization of how his political ambitions might come into conflict with the good life so important to him, forced him to scale down his ambitions and settle for the comparative comfort of a Rajya Sabha membership.

Wanting more

Oh and that title—Dr Vijay Mallya he was, and you dared not call him anything else in front of his vast, faithful and fawning personal staff. Except that the title was a bit dodgy, an honorary degree in 1997 from Santa Ana-based Southern California University for Professional Studies, a distance-learning and online educational institute.

Why would a successful billionaire with a perfectly decent lineage need a little something before his name? Perhaps it helped stoke his super-sized ego just a bit more. After all, as Vir Sanghvi wrote , “Vijay is never alone. Wherever he goes, friends, employees and chamchas fly with him… And when he talks, there is always the sense that he is addressing unseen multitudes behind your left shoulder."

Now, the problem with wanting more, and more and then some more, is that you can end up like Oliver Twist, with nothing at all.

Just about 25 years ago, Mallya, often celebrated as a shrewd businessman, made what he thought was another smart deal. He sold Berger Paints, which he had bought a few years earlier after convincing HSBC to lend him the money, to the Dhingra family. Mallya’s profit from that deal was $66 million.

Kuldeep and Gurbachan Singh Dhingra went on to build Berger Paints into the country’s second-largest paint maker, and today they are in the Forbes billionaires list with a net worth of $2.5 billion. And Mallya, who was born with a billion-dollar silver spoon, is having to clutch at a $75 million severance package from Diageo, which can’t wait to see his back. Incidentally, that sum is less than the $95 million price tag of his famous mega yacht, The Indian Empress.

There is justice after all.

Maybe, Mallya, son of an illustrious father, and father to a not-so illustrious son, was always trying hard to fill a big black hole in his life.

The king of good times graduated with a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Kolkata-based St. Xavier’s College in 1976, three years before I joined the same college to read English literature. He stayed long enough in the city with his mother to become fluent in Bangla, a language he slips into quite effortlessly when he needs to. The vast, cavernous classrooms at Xavier’s with their theatre-like seating and early morning classes had over the years seen the back of Lakshmi Mittal and Sanjiv Goenka among others, so he didn’t excite too much attention. And then he was packed off to the US to train at Hoechst and Jenson & Nicholson, stints which he wasn’t too excited about.

Taking the reins

The senior Mallya’s untimely death meant that at 28, Vijay became chairman of United Breweries. He spent his first few years in the saddle, years that also coincided with India’s liberalization era, consolidating the group’s dominance in the beer and spirits market. But he was much too restless to stay put for too long.

So, he made his moves, buying firms, acquiring brands, selling assets, all without a care in the world. He was after all a fun-loving young man, fond of fine cigarillos. And with a wicked sense of humour that he occasionally turned on himself. Asked on a television programme about how he reacted to the charge that he was blowing up his father’s wealth, he quipped that his father’s wealth he had long ago blown up—now he was blowing up his own money.

Generally polite with people he didn’t know but candid and effusive with friends, he was nevertheless completely feudal in his behaviour, taking good care of those he liked by paying them handsomely and looking after their families as well. Of course, this came with a price—you couldn’t afford to be a naysayer.

Contrary to the common belief that over the years Mallya made smart business moves only to be tripped up by his airline disaster, the man seems to have made an unusually large number of bad business calls and flirted with financial distress more than once. In fact, a Business Today cover that posed the question “Is Vijay Mallya broke?" is dated February 1992. The story went on to say: “Mallya’s empire is foundering following a serious cash crunch. The whisper in banking circles is that Mallya may have been sold a pup when he went on his acquisition spree two years ago."

Airline fiasco

That sounds familiar. Kingfisher Airlines’ problems are partly because of its acquisition in 2007 of Air Deccan, a loss-making low-cost carrier run on a shoe-string budget, for nearly Rs1,000 crore. IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal, who knows a thing or two about running airlines successfully, once said that the airline business is like a candle burning at both ends. The window of opportunity to make your profits is small and timing is everything. By buying Air Deccan only because it would allow him to fly on overseas routes, Mallya didn’t give himself the chance of consolidating the nascent domestic business.

His understanding of the business may also have been flawed. Ten years ago, Indians were not looking to board a gold-plated flight. They wanted an efficient, value-for-money transportation option. As IndiGo has proved, flying for Indians wasn’t a luxury but a necessary convenience.

Whether for meetings or for weddings, a flight is about getting there on time with minimum fuss. Consistency, not class, is what the Indian flyer was looking for. With those personal video screens, goodie bags and gourmet meals, the man who often reaches three to four hours late for scheduled meetings misjudged his market.

The fancy frills were important only for the glittering class that oohed and aahed when the pretty young stewardess wiped their glasses in the business class of the short Mumbai-Bengaluru flight (“VJM has such good taste!"). They egged him on during his ill-fated journey: give us more oomph they said, so the food became more esoteric and the pictures in the in-flight magazines more exotic.

But the real flyers, the customer base IndiGo went on to tap so successfully, had no such illusions. Moreover, they had different aspirations.

The world of liquor

Mallya’s big coup had come when he bought Whyte & Mackay, the world’s fourth largest producer of premium Scotch, giving him a major toehold in Europe’s whisky market, which wouldn’t otherwise allow molasses-made Indian whisky. But Mallya made a meal of that one too. Having acquired the Glasgow-based company in 2007 for a steep £595 million, he was forced to sell it in 2014 to Philippines-based brandy producer Emperador for £430 million for antitrust reasons following a move by rival Diageo to buy a controlling stake in United Spirits Ltd.

In his famous mid-1980s battle for control over Shaw Wallace, a company that he desperately wanted as part of his portfolio, he came a cropper against the wily Manu Chhabria, who was roped in merely to meet foreign exchange regulations. Like the lady who went for a ride on a tiger, Mallya found that the potential partner who he believed would be a soft touch had turned into a formidable adversary. It was only in 2002, after Chhabria died, that he has able to wrest control over Shaw Wallace, but at a much higher price of Rs1,251 crore.

For all his political contacts, it was significant that not one politician stepped forward to help him or even support him when he was in trouble. Clearly, he had magnified in his own mind the two-way nature of these relationships.

The inescapable fact is that, despite a head for numbers, he was comfortable only in the protected world of liquor. Used to a business in which growth was guaranteed for the market leader (as he explained once, you drink when you are depressed as well as when you are exhilarated, you drink in a recession as well as in boom times), aviation was an altogether different ball game in which market share wouldn’t always translate into profits (as the example of Air India would show).

In liquor, political contacts were essential to steer through the multitude of sales taxes, excise changes and regulations, which necessitated a trip to the local authorities even if you wanted to change the size of a bottle. In the airline business, however, political contacts were relevant only to the extent of finding you the capital. Come payback time, you were all on your own.

Poison pill

When he was flying high, in 2007, Mallya placed one of the largest ever orders of Airbus aircraft: 50, including A320, A330, A350 and A380 aircraft. For an overleveraged business, it was as good as a poison pill. In contrast, he did steer Force India, the Formula 1 team he put together, adroitly. The small team over-performed hugely on budgets that would be considered shoe-string among the Ferraris and the Toyotas of the racing world.

Having spent a relatively lonely childhood with his father away in Bengaluru while he stayed with his mother in Kolkata, he is very attached to his children, with their names etched on each of the Kingfisher’s aircraft. It wasn’t surprising then that Kingfisher’s launch coincided with his son Siddharth’s 18th birthday; but sadly for Mallya senior, the son seemed to have had little appetite for the business, preferring to spend time in the warmer company of models for the Kingfisher calendar.

Mallya’s extravagance, though, is legendary. Why spend a penny when a pound will do just fine? For an important meeting, he once flew 20 of his executives to Amsterdam, because he couldn’t come to Bengaluru. It is the kind of swag that sub-standard Bollywood movies celebrate and perhaps he did have one eye on Bollywood in most of what he did.

In fact, in this season of biopics, some intrepid Mumbai director is sure to be working on a film about the man and in that Vijay Mallya would be the tragic hero, destroyed by his gigantic love for life and an unforgiving system.

Sadly, the reality is different. Indeed, if it is possible in a crony-capitalist society like India where the super rich have always been immune to the laws of the land, Mallya really got what he deserved. Kingfisher was an objective correlative for everything he stood for—excesses, glamour, recklessness and complete disregard for the rights of others. Its closure was an apt metaphor too.

The thing is, Mallya never saw the difference between his personal money, his companies’ money or that of the banks. It was his, all his. There were houses in various countries, game lodges and tropical islands, the race horses he was so fond of, the 250-plus cars and the jet. That last was a peek into his personality—a Boeing 737 specially fitted for his needs and capable of flying from Bengaluru to London without refuelling and equipped with all the bells and whistles that you would expect of a playboy billionaire, including a special throne-like seat with VJM embossed into it.

Set that against the State Bank of India (SBI) ATM outside the office canteen in UB House in Bengaluru, where a printed sheet declared “This ATM is out of cash" in 2012, almost suggesting that SBI (which led the banks in lending vast sums to Kingfisher Airlines seemingly without adequate collateral) couldn’t trust him not to pull out money from its ATM.

Personality change

By this time, as Kingfisher’s troubles came to a head and the airline was forced to suspend operations—permanently, as it turned out—he lost a lot of his effervescence. Indeed, for the first time in a career full of ups and downs, he looked a beaten man. More than one person spoke of how he would turn up for Royal Challengers games in Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium with a glazed look on his face—the stress there for all to see.

Kingfisher had been his dream project, one he had hoped would define him. He was involved in every aspect of its running, from selecting the air hostesses to recording the megalomaniacal welcome message for all passengers. But all it managed to do was tote up Rs16,000 crore of accumulated losses by October 2012.

His crimes were plenty and serious—not depositing the mandatory TDS (tax deducted at source) and employees’ provident fund contributions were criminal offences with serious consequences in most countries. How he got away with it in India boggles the mind and only confirms that he had cultivated contacts everywhere.

Do men like Mallya take the capitalist system forward? By manipulating and perverting the rules of doing business, they actually create a moral hazard, besides a “fiddly empire of firms" as The Economist called it . Investopedia defines moral hazard as “when a person or entity engages in risk-taking behaviour based on a set of expected outcomes where another person or entity bears the costs in the event of an unfavourable outcome".

The loans he stockpiled were at public expense and while the banks that eagerly doled them out are equally guilty, the ultimate victim is the shareholder. Mallya the private businessman is a terrible advertisement for capitalism as much as Raghuram Rajan, the central bank governor under whose watch the banks are being forced to mend their ways and go after defaulters like Mallya, is actually a poster boy for a free market system.

It is a strange paradox: if you look at the example of Mallya and Kingfisher, India should rank very high in terms of ease of doing business. Starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, hours per year spent preparing tax returns and total tax payable as share of gross profit—Mallya couldn’t complain he had a problem on any of these counts. Indeed, the very ease of doing business his way led to more than $2 billion of debt, most of which is unlikely to be repaid.

Way too much attention is paid to his silly parties and his adolescent swimsuit calendars. Would it have made any difference had he been austere, dressed down and rarely appeared in public? The Reserve Bank of India has a list of serial defaulters and most of them are paragons of personal virtue.

Equality and opportunity

Mallya is no agnostic either. He has been known to imbibe the teachings of Sri Ravi Shankar and has joined pilgrims on their march in Sabarimala, Kerala. While Rajan may have been right about the impact on public perception of a man who owes public institutions millions celebrating his birthday lavishly, it isn’t Mallya’s biggest fault.

No, Mallya’s crime was that he let down everyone—his shareholders, his employees, his lenders and all those who champion free markets with minimum government intervention.

Political philosopher John Rawls posited that we should put all our effort into seeing to it that “the rules of the game" are fair. Once society has been organized around a set of fair rules, people can set about freely “playing" the game, without interference. Mallya, and business tycoons like him, call into question the Rawlsian vision of equality of opportunity. In doing so, he has given big business in India a bad name.

Comments are welcome at [email protected]

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By Editorial Team   5 July 2013

Force India’s team boss Vijay Mallya started the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix off on a high on board the event’s largest superyacht – his own 95m 'Indian Empress' motor yacht, which is also one of the largest yachts in the charter fleet.

For years it has been the most prestigious yacht party of the Grand Prix event, welcoming on board a 600-strong guest-list made up of a who’s who of the world’s elite, from Monaco’s Royal family to internationally renowned superstars. This year’s theme was the mogul splendor of old Rajasthan and India’s hottest fashion designer, Rocky S, showed some breath-taking couture pieces from his collection whilst music was provided by DJs Teddy O and Chico, flown in direct from India for the occasion.

Set in the world’s most exclusive harbour, the Port d'Hercule in Monaco, Indian Empress was an impressive sight again this year, other notable yachts included   second largest vessel at the event superyacht O'Mega , and other popular charter yachts such as Told U So and Diamonds Are Forever. Throughout the year Monaco represents one of the globes most spectacular and popular luxury yacht charter destinations, but on the Monaco Grand Prix weekend it is the only place to be seen. Whether chartering privately for the event or hosting an impressive corporate charter yachts , there is no better way to be a part of this glittering social scene and soak up the heady atmosphere than on board a luxury charter yacht .

To find out more read our guide to a Monaco Grand Prix Yacht Charter , or contact your preferred yacht charter broker .

Video by Pole Position P1

...the Monaco Grand Prix weekend it is the only place to be seen.

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Vijay Mallya Age, Girlfriend, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some lesser known facts about vijay mallya.

• Mallya was born with a silver spoon in his mouth as his father, Vittal Mallya, was a ‘big’ name in the liquor Industry. Vittal, who was the first Indian director of the United Breweries Ltd, eventually became the Chairman of the company and acquired many breweries and distilleries across India.
• While in College, Mallya worked as an intern in his family’s businesses. In addition, after graduating, the future ‘King of Good Times” interned at Hoechst AG, a Chemical company in the United States.
• After the demise of his father in 1983, Mallya was elected the Chairman of the United Breweries Group (UB Group). Walking in the footsteps of his father, Mallya went on to acquire 60+ companies in a short span of time. Under his control, the conglomerate’s annual turnover surged by 64% over 15 years to US$11 billion in 1998–1999.
• In terms of sales, ‘Kingfisher beer’ has more than 50% market share in India. Notably, the beer is available in over 5o countries across the globe.
• Mallya added another achievement to his list of ‘accolades’ when United Spirits Ltd, the flagship company of the UB Group, achieved the historic milestone of selling 100 million cases. With this, the company became the second-largest spirits company in the world by volume. However, in 2015, Mallya was forced to step down as the Chairman of the United Spirits Ltd. A full-time settlement of $75 million, which Mallya was supposed to get after the deal, was blocked by the Indian Courts as he had “wilfully defaulted” on his loan repayment amounting to INR 9000 Crores.
• Mallya further expanded his business and laid the foundation of “Kingfisher Airlines” in 2003. The Airlines became an instant success as the service standards and comfort provided by it in the initial years was unmatchable. However, things soon took turn for the worse when Kingfisher Airlines acquired Air Deccan in 2007 and started operating internationally. Many experts believe that this move by Mallya was the biggest mistake of his career as his downfall began soon after. The airlines which was performing well domestically started making huge losses primarily because of its ‘failed’ international operations.
• By 2009-10, Kingfisher Airlines had accumulated a debt of over INR 7,000 crore. The airlines, which was once cruising, turned into a Non-Performing Asset (NPA) or a Bad Loan for the banks.
• Not many people known that Mallya is a highly religious person. No matter what, Mallya makes it a point to go on the Sabarimala pilgrimage every year. The beleaguered businessman even visited the Tirupati Temple everytime a new Kingfisher aircraft was commissioned. If that wasn’t enough, the business tycoon has made it a habit to leaving for an important meeting or event at an auspicious time.

Vijay Mallya holding Tipu Sultan’s Sword

Vijay Mallya’s yacht

• The businessman is well-acquainted with a number of languages. He is a proficient speaker of Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Bengali, Konkani, English and French.

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Vijay Mallya Posts Special Message For RCB After IPL Playoffs Qualification

Royal challengers bengaluru booked their spot in the ipl 2024 playoffs with a thrilling victory over chennai super kings..

Royal Challengers Bengaluru booked their spot in the IPL 2024 playoffs with a thrilling victory over Chennai Super Kings on Saturday. Faf Du Plessis and Cameron Green took RCB to a score above 200 and Yash Dayal produced a disciplined display of fast bowling to clinch the victory. It was a huge achievement for RCB who won six matches on the trot to book their spot in the Top 4. Former RCB owner Vijay Mallya took to social media to post a special message for the side. "Heartiest congratulations to RCB for qualifying in the top four and reaching the IPL playoffs. Great determination and skill have created a winning momentum after a disappointing start. Onward and upward towards the trophy," he posted on X (formerly known as Twitter). 

Heartiest congratulations to RCB for qualifying in the top four and reaching the IPL playoffs. Great determination and skill have created a winning momentum after a disappointing start. Onward and upward towards the trophy. — Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) May 18, 2024

RCB captain Faf Du Plessis dedicated his Man of the Match award to fast bowler Yash Dayal.

"I dedicate this Man of the Match to Yash Dayal. The way he bowled was unbelievable. For a man who's fairly new, he deserves it. [on what he told Dayal before the last over] Pace off is the best option on this pitch and trust your skills and enjoy, this is what you trained for. The yorker did not work the 1st ball and he went back to pace off and it worked unbelievably well," Faf said after the match.

CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad also pointed out where CSK lost the match.

"I think it was a good wicket to be honest, it was spinning and gripping a little bit, but I think 200 on this ground was gettable. We kept losing wickets at regular intervals, it was a matter of one or two hits, sometimes that can happen in a T20 game. Pretty happy with what the target was, to sum up the season, I am pretty happy to have seven wins out of 14 games."

"Just couldn't get over the line in the last two balls. With the kind of injuries we had, missing out on two frontline bowlers, not having Conway at the top of the order as well, I think missing out on three key players made a huge difference. Credit to the CSK staff and everyone who put up a great show for us throughout the season. There were many challenges for us right throughout the first game."

"Injury to Fizz (Mustafizur), then injury to Pathirana as well, he came back and then again Pathirana missed out. When you have injuries around, you have to get that balance in the team and pick it (the team) for every game. I think this season sums up well where we had to tinker around with our playing XI, considering the injuries and all the illness (of the players) as well," Ruturaj told the presenter.

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Vijay mallya condolles 'fordimable competitor' anita goyal's death, remembers jet airways founder's wife as a 'lovely human being'.

Anita Goyal, wife of Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, passed away after battling cancer. Vijay Mallya expressed condolences, acknowledging her role in Jet Airways amidst ongoing investigations into the airline's financial dealings. Naresh Goyal's legal challenges were also referenced, with his recent bail granted in a money laundering case. Vijay Mallya's own legal situation, stemming from Kingfisher Airlines' financial troubles, remains unresolved as extradition efforts continue.

Condolences From Vijay Mallya

— TheVijayMallya (@TheVijayMallya)

Investigations Into Jet Airways

Role of anita goyal in jet airways, vijay mallya’s legal situation, read more news on.

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