Rs. 515-Crore Payout For #VijayMallya Came Too Late.

Banks to which liquor baron Vijay Mallya owes nearly Rs. 9,000 crores, loaned to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, received two installments of bad news today.

In the morning, the Centre told the Supreme Court that Mr Mallya, 60, left the country on March 2. A consortium of 17 banks, most of them state-run, had asked the top court to stop Mr Mallya from travelling out of India.

Then it emerged that more than half of a $75 million (Rs. 515 crore) settlement due to Mr Mallya from the British firm Diageo has already been paid. On Monday, a court had ruled that the entire settlement be put on hold while it decides whether banks have correctly claimed that they should have the first dibs on that money.