A total of 2,200 Kingfisher employees have filed claims with the liquidator's office for a total sum of ₹3,000 crore; total dues owed by Kingfisher to various creditors not yet determined

The official liquidator has informed some erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines staff that the State Bank of India (SBI) has not released recoveries from the sale of the airline's assets, causing delays in payments to creditors, including employees who are classified as priority creditors even as the total settlement dues have not yet been determined.

Last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament that a sum of ₹14,131.6 crore had been recovered in the Vijaya Mallya case, adding "complete money of the attached property has been restored to the public sector banks". In February 2024, following the Finance Minister's statement in Parliament, Mr. Mallya's lawyer told the Karnataka High Court that banks had recovered the "principal debt amount multiple times over" in the Kingfisher Airlines loan default case as a sum of ₹6,200 crore was owed by the airline but a sum of over ₹14,000 crore had been recovered by the banks. The lawyer sought a stay on further recovery apart from a direction to provide a statement for all amounts owed by Mr. Mallya and United Breweries Holdings, the holding company of Kingfisher Airlines.

"Upon receipt of the sale proceeds and corresponding priority dues from SBI, the official Liquidator will proceed to distribute the dividend to the creditors, including workmen, in accordance with Section 529 and 529A of the Companies Act, 1956", the Office of Official Liquidator under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has informed some employees in a letter dated September 8, 2025.

The letter stated that SBI, the lead bank among the consortium of banks that had lent money to Kingfisher Airline's parent company, has not yet remitted sale proceeds to the office of the liquidator.

The Hindu sent a detailed questionnaire to SBI seeking its response for this article but it declined to comment.

There are total 2,200 Kingfisher employees who have filed claims with the liquidator's office for a total sum of ₹3,000 crore, a government official said speaking on the condition of anonymity. To a question on how many total creditors were there and what were the total dues owed to them, the official said this had not yet been fully adjudicated by the office.

Though a sum of ₹21.80 crore towards Provide Fund dues has been released to the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner of Mumbai and workmen and employees could claim this directly, the official liquidator has said.

The letter mentions multiple correspondences in the past on asset recovery and proceeds from their sale, in response to which SBI had informed it in a letter dated February 13, 2023 that proceedings were still pending before the Recovery Officer of Debt Recovery Tribunal in Chennai and that the bank had not received the recovery proceeds.

Later, letters were also sent to Debt Recovery Tribunal Bengaluru, and Debt Recovery Tribunal Chennai, in July 2024 requesting them to remit the sale proceeds to SBI but the liquidator was yet to receive any sum from the bank, its letter to staffers added.

The official liquidator has realised a sum of ₹38.57 crore from the sale of four planes, it said.

The ED has attached several movable and immovable properties in the Vijay Mallya money laundering case case, including a farmhouse in Alibaug worth over ₹100 crore, the famous Kingfisher Villa in Goa estimated to be worth ₹73 crore, a 4.5-acre industrial plot in Chennai, coffee plantation land in Coorg spread across 28.75 acres, besides the residential and commercial constructed areas in UB CITY and Kingfisher Tower in Bengaluru, spread in 8.4 lakh square feet.

Kingfisher Airlines lost its permit to operate commercial flights in October 2012 following its financial challenges. In March 2016, Vijay Mallya fled India and has not returned since. In 2017, Karnataka High Court ordered the winding up of the parent company United Breweries Holding Ltd (UBHL) for recovery of dues payable by Kingfisher Airlines, which was upheld by Supreme Court in October 2020.

SBI yet to release Kingfisher asset sale money, staff await dues