Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said, India is no longer willing to let defaulters escape the law. Mr Jaitley was speaking at a session on 'Transforming India: Vision for the Next Decade' organised by the London School of Economics' South Asia Centre. The remarks were an apparent reference to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India for loan default and other cases.<br/><br/>Mr Jaitley said, it is the first time that such strong action is being taken and defaulters are on the run. He referred to loan default as a major problem that needs to be addressed. Mallya, the chief of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, had moved to Britain in March last year after banks sued him to recover around 1.4 billion US dollars owed by the airline.<br/>Earlier this month, India had formally requested Britain to extradite Mallya for standing trial. India and the UK have an extradition treaty since 1993, under which only one extradition from the UK to India has ever taken place, that of Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel in October, 2016, to stand trial for his alleged role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat.<br/><br/>Mr Jaitley refused to confirm if the issue of Mallya's extradition would feature in his talks with senior British ministers. However, senior officials in London had indicated earlier that the issue is likely to be on the agenda.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said, India is no longer willing to let defaulters escape the law. Mr Jaitley was speaking at a session on 'Transforming India: Vision for the Next Decade' organised by the London School of Economics' South Asia Centre. The remarks were an apparent reference to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India for loan default and other cases.<br/><br/>Mr Jaitley said, it is the first time that such strong action is being taken and defaulters are on the run. He referred to loan default as a major problem that needs to be addressed. Mallya, the chief of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, had moved to Britain in March last year after banks sued him to recover around 1.4 billion US dollars owed by the airline.<br/>Earlier this month, India had formally requested Britain to extradite Mallya for standing trial. India and the UK have an extradition treaty since 1993, under which only one extradition from the UK to India has ever taken place, that of Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel in October, 2016, to stand trial for his alleged role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat.<br/><br/>Mr Jaitley refused to confirm if the issue of Mallya's extradition would feature in his talks with senior British ministers. However, senior officials in London had indicated earlier that the issue is likely to be on the agenda.