Mallya tells court he’s willing to cut personal spending to £29k a month

Vijay Mallya, the former head of India’s United Spirits, is being kept by his partner, personal assistant, a business acquaintance and his children, according to his formal response to a bankruptcy petition presented by 13 Indian banks.

Mallya’s lawyers told the High Court in London yesterday that he is willing to cut his spending to £29,500 a month, compared with the £18,300-a-week allowance he had been granted by the court while a global freeze on his assets remains in place.

Mallya is fighting multiple actions by his creditors in both London and India as he awaits an appeal hearing against extradition to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering.

The court was told that Mallya’s “partner/wife Pinky Lalwani” has annual income of £150,000 and that Mallya ‘s personal assets have fallen to £328 million, which he has offered to the Karnataka High Court to settle his debts.

India’s authorities have seized more than £1billion of Mallya’s assets, including multiple properties and his holding the country’s biggest beer group, United Breweries.

Despite claiming to be on his uppers, lawyers for the creditor banks said Mallya continues to live a “lavish lifestyle,” and “is suffering no real hardship as would be understood by the man on the street”.

They said he has other sources of income including a £7,500 monthly payment from Kingfisher Beer Europe Ltd. and his family’s wealth, much of which is tied up in trusts.

In his defence, Mallya’s counsel told the court: “Dr. Mallya continues to do all he can to support a court process in India which should see creditors paid off in full……. Dr. Mallya meanwhile lives well within the court-ordered limits and looks forward to its [the bankruptcy petition’s] conclusion in the coming months.”

The full court hearing is scheduled for December.