TV Shows Don’t Bring Anything, Says Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw On Mallya Media Trial

Bio-tech pioneer and industrialist Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has exposed the banks and their bias. Speaking to a news agency, she said Vijay Mallya should be given a fair opportunity to settle the loan default issues with banks, and maintained that media trial against him would not help matters.

Mazumdar-Shaw said there are many companies which have large debts even though they have not been declared as defaulters. One has to focus on the bigger issues of debt recovery and dispute resolution and also on the mounting debt of public sector banks which is causing financial stress, she said.

Publicly traded banks in India added nearly Rs.1 trillion in bad loans or NPAs (non-performing assets) in the quarter ended 31 December. The 24 public sector banks were the worst performers, having reported an aggregate loss of Rs.10,911 crore in the December quarter compared to a profit of Rs.6,970.8 crore in the year-ago quarter. Bad loans provisions have wiped out the profits of 12 out of the 39 listed banks.

Mazumdar-Shaw said “there are many debts which have to be recovered. Fair opportunity should be given to debtors to settle. But just being carried away by TV shows, nothing is going to come. I think every defaulter should be given an opportunity to settle. If you constantly threaten the debtor that you will be arrested, you will be put behind bars… that’s not the way to recover the debts.”

Resolution of debt and financial disputes take a long time in the country due to lack of a bankruptcy law, she has said. Pointing that the case was pending before the Debt Recovery Tribunal for some years, the chairperson and MD of biotechnology major Biocon, said: “It (settlement) does not happen overnight.”

Media exerting pressure on Mallya to settle the dues instantly does not make it easy, she felt.

“Today everybody is being tried by media…whether it’s banks recovering their debts..whether it’s the debtors, whether it’s the government..everybody is being tried by media…for instant recovery of all dues – each and every penny…which is unrealistic. So, media frenzy is getting in the way of following due processes,” Mazumdar-Shaw said.

Noting that she and Mallya grew up together, she said “I have known him for a long time. And I know that he is sincerely trying to settle his debt. But now he is so worried about the way media has been going after him.”

On whether Mallya would return to India, she said: “I am sure he will. Of course he is very worried about what will happen when he comes back. He is very keen to settle.”

The proposed bankruptcy law, when cleared by Parliament, would certainly expedite the process of resolving these enormous challenges (NPA issue), she said.

“We never had bankruptcy law which is very important law to deal with all these things. I think we have to give an opportunity not just to Vijay Mallya but all debtors and defaulters to try and settle with banks and banks to recover as much dues as they can,” Mazumdar-Shawsaid.