Vijay Mallya

Vijay Mallya ವಿಜಯ್ ಮಲ್ಯ
Member of the Rajya Sabha
In office 2000 – 2006, 2010 – present
Constituency	Karnataka
Personal details
Born	18 December 1955 (1955-12-18) (age 55) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Political party	Independent
Spouse(s)	Shrimati Rekha Mallya
Children	Siddharth Mallya (Son) Leana Mallya (daughter) Tanya Mallya (daughter) Laila Mallya (step-daughter)
Alma mater	St. Xavier's College[1]
Occupation	Chairman of: United Breweries Group, Kingfisher Airlines, Force India F1 Team,
As of 3 May 2011 Source: Government of India

Vijay Mallya (Konkani: ವಿಜಯ್ ಮಲ್ಯ; born 18 December 1955) is an Indian liquor and airline baron. The son of industrialist Vittal Mallya, he is the chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines. His United Spirits is world's second largest liquor maker, by volume. Mallya is also an MP in the Indian Rajya Sabha.

He also co-owns the Formula One team Force India, the Indian Premier League team Bangalore Royal Challengers, and the I-League team East Bengal FC.^[2]

According to Forbes, his personal wealth is estimated to be $1.4 billion.^[3] Mallya receives substantial press coverage that focuses on his lavish parties, villas, automobiles, Force India, Royal Challengers Bangalore and his yacht, the Indian Empress.^[4]

Personal life

Vijay Mallya was born to Vithal Mallya, an industrialist.^[5] He completed his degree at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta.^{[citation needed]} He later set up business ventures in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mallya's first wife was Sameera and they have a son together, named Sidhartha Mallya. Sidhartha was educated at Wellington College in Crowthorne followed by Queen Mary's College in the University of London. Later on, Mallya married Rekha with whom he has two daughters: Leiana and Tanya Mallya. Rekha has a daughter from a previous marriage: Laila.^{[citation needed]} In 2008, he had his home demolished in order to build a new residence, Kingfisher Towers, in UB City, Bangalore.^[6]

Business

Breweries

Mallya took over as Chairman of United Breweries Group in 1984 from his father Vittal Mallya. Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over sixty companies, with an annual turnover which increased by 63.9% over 15 years to US$11.2 billion in 1998–1999 . The focal business areas of the group encompass alcoholic beverages, life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology, aviation and leisure.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2007, United Breweries Group announced the all-cash acquisition of scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay for £595 million (approximately Rs 3000 crore).^[7] In 2005 he took over Millennium Breweries Ltd (formerly known as Inertia Industries Ltd), which owned the two premium beer brands named Sandpiper and Zingaro.^{[citation needed]}

Airlines

In 2006, Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines.^[8] At present, the airline connects 32 cities. Kingfisher Airlines obtained a 26% stake in Air Deccan, a low cost Indian airline which Mallya later acquired fully and rebranded as Kingfishers Red. Vijay Mallya and his Jet Airways counterpart Naresh Goyal announced an alliance after a marathon meeting on 13 October 2008 at Mumbai, India.^{[citation needed]} Kingfisher Airlines' debt should be seen in comparison to the company's size, chairman Vijay Mallya said Monday and added that the airline has nine years to repay its dues.^[9] Kingfisher Airline is about to be bankrupt and Airline failure insurance doesn't cover Kingfisher Airline anymore.

Media

Mallya owns the TATA industries Newspapers which serve Marin County, California where he maintains a home and stores a portion of his car collection.^[10]

Investment in sports

Formula One

Main article: Force India

Vitantonio Liuzzi driving for Mallya's Formula One team, Force India, at the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix.

In 2007, Mallya and the Mol family from The Netherlands bought the Spyker F1 team for 88 million euros.^[11] The team changed its name to Force India F1 from the 2008 Season.^[12] Team's car VJM-01 was named after its owners Vijay Mallya, Jan Mol and Michiel Mol.^{[citation needed]}

Mallya also represents India in the FIA World Motor Sport Council, where he has a seat from 2009 to 2013.^[13]

Football

Main article: East Bengal Club

Mallya's United Breweries sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs in Kolkata where Mallya spent his childhood.^[14]

He also was part of the consortium that acquired Queens Park Rangers FC; the consortium also included Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal.^[15]

Vijay Mallya has recently indicated his intention to buy AS Bari, a football team which plays in the Italian Serie A.^{[citation needed]}

Cricket

Main article: Royal Challengers Bangalore

Vijay Mallya is the owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team through his flagship firm UB Group. Mallya wanted to associate one of his top-selling liquor brands, either McDowell's No. 1 or Royal Challenge with the team.[8] The latter was chosen, hence the name. The jersey colours of the team are red and golden yellow, the same as the Karnataka state flag,[9] and the logo consists of the RC emblem with "Royal Challengers Bangalore" in standard format.^{[citation needed]}

Corporate Sponsorship

UB Group sponsors many sports events and teams such as:

• Signature Golf Tournament - Indian Golf Tournament.
• Mohun Bagan A.C. - I league Team
• Kingfisher Derby Team - Horse Racing
• East Bengal Club - I league Team
• Royal Challengers Bangalore - IPL Team
• Force India - Formula One Team

Political career

Mallya entered politics in 2000 as a member of the Janata Party. His party contested almost all of the 224 seats during the Karnataka State legislative election.^{[citation needed]} He campaigned vigorously through the media, but his party failed to make any impact and did not win a single seat. Following the party's failure in the elections, it has been largely ignored by the media,^[16] although Mallya recently became an MP independently.

Auction purchases

Vijay Mallya is noted for his successful bidding in auction of items that are considered of great historical value to India.^[17] In 2004, he placed the winning bid of £175,000 for the sword of Tipu Sultan at an auction in London, and brought it back to India.^[18] In March 2009, Mallya successfully bid for the belongings of Mahatma Gandhi at US$1.8 million, in a New York auction that initially caused an uproar in India and its government tried and failed to prevent it from going under the hammer.^[19][20][21]

Other businesses

• Establishment of Mallya Hospital in Bangalore. The hospital is located on Vittal Mallya Road, named after his father.
• Helped to fund the Mallya Aditi International School, a private school in Bangalore.
• He owns a TV channel called NDTV Good Times.
• He also owns the popular kunigal stud farm,situated near bangalore.
• His F1 team Force India, in association with MTV India produced a reality show, MTV Force India The Fast and The Gorgeous in 2009. The show is about 20 gorgeous girls competing to be the face of Force India F1 in the 2009 season^[22]. The winners of The Fast and the Gorgeous were supposed to get to travel the world with the team, host the after-parties and appear in the F1 calendar.

References

1. ^ St. Xavier's College, Kolkata
2. ^ "#60 Vijay Mallya". Forbes. 18 November 2009. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/77/india-billionaires-09_Vijay-Mallya_LXGK.html. 
3. ^ Vijay Mallya, World's Billionaires, Forbes.com accessed March 2010
4. ^ "Kingfisher Airlines crisis: I will bounce back, says Vijay Mallya". The Times Of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Kingfisher-Airlines-crisis-I-will-bounce-back-says-Vijay-Mallya/articleshow/10743769.cms. Retrieved Nov 15, 2011. 
5. ^ 'Vijay Mallya: The spirit shall prevail'. The Times of India online edition, 22 April 2002.
6. ^ "He planned to build white house in the sky in UB city(Begaluru).". Indiavision news. Oct. 18, 2011. http://www.indiavision.com/news/article/national/239633/vijay-mallyas-white-house-in-the-sky/. 
7. ^ BBC News: Whisky giant sold to billionaire
8. ^ "#937 Vijay Mallya". Forbes. 10 March 2010. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Vijay-Mallya_LXGK.html. 
9. ^ "Debt should be seen in comparison to size: Mallya". Indiavision news. Oct. 31, 2011. http://www.indiavision.com/news/article/business/243488/debt-should-be-seen-in-comparison-to-size-mallya/. 
10. ^ Vijay Mallya's Car Collection
11. ^ Rediscover Formula One | Vijay Mallya bids for Formula One Team Spyker
12. ^ Rediscover Formula One | Spyker is now officially FORCE INDIA formula one team
13. ^ "FIA Elects World Council Members". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 23 October 2009. http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/pressreleases/FIA/2009/Pages/fia_world_mbrs.aspx. Retrieved 23 October 2009. 
14. ^ "Mallya sore with Bagan brawls". Financial Express. 3 October 2004. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Mallya-sore-with-Bagan-brawls/35075/. Retrieved 21 February 2008. 
15. ^ "Indian Formula One high roller joins Ecclestone and Briatore's party at Queens Park Rangers". Daily Mail. 
16. ^ "Interview with vijay mallya – 1". Mumbaimirror. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=11&contentid=200912282009122817352128850431d7d. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
17. ^ Singh, Kishore (10 Dec 2009). "In search of Tipu's wealth". Business Standard. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/in-searchtipus-wealth/17/33/372755/. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
18. ^ Habib Beary, "Tipu's sword back in Indian hands", BBC News, 7 April 2004.
19. ^ India 'helped win Gandhi auction', BBC News, 5 March 2009
20. ^ Gandhi items 'to return to India', BBC News, 5 March 2009
21. ^ Buyer will return Gandhi's personal items to India, Rama Lakshmi, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 March 2009
22. ^ http://mtv.in.com/fg/

External links

• Profile at UB Group
• Profile at Forbes
• Profile at The Daily Telegraph
• Vijay Mallya collected news and commentary at The Times of India
• Interview with Vijay Mallya CNN — November 28, 2007.

Persondata
Name	Mallya, Vijay
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	18 December 1955
Place of birth	Bantwal, Karnataka, India
Date of death
Place of death