Online auction of Kingfisher House was managed by an arm of the state-run State Bank of India.
Highlights
- Auction for Kingfisher House opens and closes without anyone bidding
- Base price of Rs. 150 crore too high, say sources
- An arm of the state-run State Bank of India was conducting the e-auction
An online auction of one of Vijay Mallya's flagship properties in Mumbai, Kingfisher House, opened and closed today without any bidders.
The base price of Rs 150 crore for the office at Andheri in Mumbai's western suburbs was "too high", say sources.
The e-auction was managed by an arm of the state-run State Bank of India, one of the 17 banks trying to recover at least a billion dollars loaned to Mr Mallya's grounded Kingfisher Airlines.
On Friday, Mr Mallya has been summoned for questioning as part of an investigation related to one of the bank loans.
Sources in the Enforcement Directorate, which has summoned Mr Mallya, say "it has to be a personal appearance, he can't send his lawyer."
Mr Mallya is reportedly in the UK amid attempts to recover over Rs 9,000 crore loaned to Kingfisher Airlines, which stopped operating in 2012. "I am not an absconder," the businessman tweeted last week.
The banks had asked the Supreme Court to stop Mr Mallya from travelling abroad but the government told the court that he had left the country on March 2.
On a request from the banks, a court recently put on hold the payment of $75 million or 515 crores by Diageo to Mr Mallya as part of a settlement under which the liquor baron would step down as the chairman of United Spirits.
Ranked the 45th-richest Indian with a net worth of $1 billion by Forbes in March 2012, Mr Mallya is known to have lavish homes in Mumbai, Goa, Delhi and also London. His flamboyant lifestyle also features a fleet of luxury cars and a yacht.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was targeted by the Congress in Parliament over the tycoon's "escape", said: "Every penny from Mallya will be recovered."