The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| India’s ‘King of Good Times’ slips off throne Posted: 15 Nov 2011 07:25 AM PST  India's "Richard Branson" faces the possible collapse of his debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines. — Reuters file pic Now India's "Richard Branson", a symbol of the hands-on, publicity-hungry and ambitious Indian entrepreneur, faces the possible collapse of his debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines — and some soul searching about his extravagance. His troubles have coincided this year with India's own slow growth, high inflation and corruption scandals that threaten the entrepreneurial self-confidence of an Asian economic juggernaut that likes to see itself taking on the world. Like other billionaires including Mukesh Ambani and his US$1 billion (RM3.2 billion) Mumbai home, Mallya both fascinates Indians aspiring for wealth after generations of forced frugality and jars with others in a country where around half live in poverty. "While he was doing well, he was signifying the resurgence of India. To a very large part of the middle class, he was what everyone wanted to be," said Prahlad Kakkar, a well-known advertising executive. "He was the symbol of new India — flamboyant, high-risk, wealthy and not ashamed of it. "Now when everyone is tightening their belts … there is an eerie feeling that he's irresponsible."  Flamboyant Mallya was the symbol of new India but critics say his lifestyle has contributed to his airline's problems. — Reuters file pic Rising crude prices, a depreciating rupee and cut-throat competition have eroded the finances of his airline — named after his famous brand of Indian beer — despite industry passenger growth of nearly 20 per cent this year. The 55-year-old Mallya, with his Branson-style flowing silver hair, is chairman of United Breweries (Holdings), a conglomerate with interests as diverse as aviation, breweries, biotechnology and real estate. The group has annual sales of more than US$4 billion. But it is his ownership of Kingfisher Airlines, which accounts for nearly one in five flights in India, that perhaps made Mallya most famous. He helped transform India's airline business by focusing on services like good food, personal screens on domestic flights and airline ushers who attend to customers as they arrive at the airport. "He altogether brought a different level of service into the domestic skies," said Kapil Kaul, chief executive for the Indian subcontinent and Middle East at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), an aviation consulting firm. The man, the brand On each flight, Mallya appears on a recorded message on the inflight entertainment system, boasting of hand-picking each of the airline's hostesses who "have been instructed to treat you in the same way as if you were a guest in my own home".  Kingfisher Airlines accounts for nearly one in five flights in India. — Reuters file pic Mallya flies around the world, dining with football stars and Formula One drivers and appearing with models on photo shoots in locales like Mauritius, continuously name-dropping the rich and famous on his Twitter feed. His 312-foot yacht, the Indian Empress cost almost US$89 million. Highlighting his global ambition, Mallya also owns a Scottish whisky company. He once personally flew in his private jet from New Zealand to Scotland with three bottle of whisky found left from British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1907 Antarctic expedition. He built a luxury Kingfisher villa in the beach state of Goa famed for its lavish parties, has befriended Bollywood stars and has a collection of dozens of vintage cars worth millions. He publishes a Kingfisher calendar of beautiful Indian models — often appearing flanked by them in photoshoots. "In Mauritius. The 2011 Kingfisher Calendar is going to rock. Great locations, stunning models ... A lethal brew!" he tweeted. Born into breweries Mallya was the son of Vittal Mallya, a liquor baron whose United Breweries was once a major supplier of British colonial troops in India. He soon made a fortune buying up breweries in the pre-economic reform decades of post-independence India.  Mallya both fascinates Indians aspiring for wealth after generations of forced frugality and jars with others in a country where around half live in poverty. — Reuters file pic Mallaya's lifestyle is not without critics, with some saying it is directly linked to the airline's problems. "Mallya's flamboyant lifestyle is responsible for the debts that Kingfisher Airlines has incurred," radical Hindu leader Bal Thackeray was quoted as saying by local media. "He has many businesses — liquor, IPL and F1 teams. He has many bungalows and a cruise boat. He himself does not know how much he spends on cheer girls during IPL (cricket) matches." The country's main opposition party said it would oppose a state bailout for Kingfisher, which means pressure will remain on Mallya's United Breweries to keep the airline in business. "Those who die must die," Indian auto industrialist Rahul Bajaj told local media, referring to Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya himself says he will bounce back, and often criticises what he sees as a sensationalist press out to get him. "To write the epitaph of Kingfisher airlines constantly is not fair," he told reporters today. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 15 Nov 2011 05:51 AM PST  WWF warns that poaching and illegal trade in sturgeon caviar in Romania and Bulgaria pose a serious risk to the highly threatened species of fish. — AFP/Relaxnews pic A total of 52.5 kilos of illegal caviar, retailing for upwards of €6,000 per kilo, originating in the two countries was reported by European Union member states between 2000 and 2009, the report said. "The real volume of illegal trade is likely to be considerably higher," the report's author Katalin Kecse-Nagy said in the statement, adding: "Any illegal trade poses an unacceptable risk to these highly threatened species." The Black Sea is one of the most important sturgeon fisheries in the world, second only to the Caspian Sea. The Danube, as one of the major feeder rivers and estuaries of the Black Sea, is crucial for the fish. According to the World Sturgeon Conservation Society, the Danube is the only large river system in Europe where protection of existing but dwindling sturgeon stocks is still possible. Fishing and export of sturgeon and sturgeon products of wild origin was banned in Romania in 2006 for 10 years, while Bulgaria is currently under a one-year ban, the WWF said. The WWF report recommended that Sofia and Bucharest strengthen their enforcement agencies, while also insisting on closer monitoring by the EU and more awareness among consumers and traders. "The EU has a major responsibility to regulate the caviar trade because EU member states are the largest consumers of caviar from Romania and the second largest consumer of caviar from Bulgaria," WWF sturgeon expert Jutta Jahrl said. "It is crucial that traders and consumers do not buy unlabelled caviar — this simple act would strike a major blow against the illegal trade," the statement said. "The EU must close every loophole in order to save sturgeons from extinction." Giant Beluga sturgeons, an ancient fish which outlasted the dinosaurs, have been critically endangered by overfishing for their caviar — uncooked roe or eggs — and by cutting off their migration routes and altering their habitat. — AFP/Relaxnews Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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