Mallya likely to meet Chidambaram tomorrow

Grounded airline Kingfisher's promoter Vijay Mallya is likely to meet finance minister P Chidambaram tomorrow and financial trouble the carrier is facing is believed to be on agenda for discussions.

"Vijay Mallya is coming to meet the finance minister tomorrow," sources told PTI. Mallya had met law minister Ashwani Kumar last month to discuss ways to deal with the problems facing his airline. The scheduled meeting with Chidambaram comes against the backdrop of Kingfisher's lenders last month deciding to start the  process to recover dues of over Rs 7,500 crore.

The beleaguered airline has dues towards payment of service tax, income tax, as also Provident Fund of employees and dues of the oil companies.  Besides, it has to pay huge amounts to the lessors of its aircraft and service providers like the Airports Authority of India.

Kingfisher, which has over Rs 15,000 crore in the form of debt, accumulated losses and various dues, has remained grounded since October 1 last year and its flying licence, suspended that month, expired on December 31. Its parent company, United Breweries Holdings Ltd, is also in the eye of a storm with its auditors raising concerns over its significant financial exposure of Rs 13,500 crore to Kingfisher.