I will not let Vijay Mallya make a fool of the government

In all my posts on the airlines industry in my management blog, I have stated that the government should not help Vijay Mallya or listen to him because he is not telling the truth and he cannot be trusted. By manipulating the government, he has saved crores of rupees in interest on one hand and is now raking in money because the oil prices have come down tremendously. When I asked to reduce prices, he has made another demand that the ATF be recognized in a particular manner so that the taxes on ATF come down lowering the price of ATF on a permanent basis.

Inspite of the government pressure, he is refusing to bring down the prices. He is using delaying tactics so that he can rake in huge amount of money in the meantime.

As I have said on my website www.vote2change.org, the primary decision criteria for all my decisions as an elected official or if I am a part of the government would be “what is in the best interest of the country and the citizens of the country?”

First, I would not have allowed delayed payment facility as it helped a few players like Kingfisher and Jet more. As such, the decision was discriminatory in nature. Even if I would have agreed to this facility, I would have asked them to pay the interest benefit when the oil prices went down or when they started to generate positive cash flows.

Second, I would have tried to reduce the ATF prices by reducing the taxes on ATF or the price of ATF so that all the airlines could benefit from it. Such an action would have brought down ATF prices as a result of which all the airlines would have reduced prices. Needless to say, the citizens of this country would have benefited. Such an action would have also reduced cost of businesses thus making the economy more stable. In any case, the industry has been asking for this action. Since it is the right action, we should not have delayed the inevitable.

The above would have resulted in a benefit for all the stakeholders of the airline industry. Prices would have come thus saving jobs which were held by the citizens of this country. The citizens and businesses would pay less for air travel. The government would not have lost a huge amount in interest.

In the current scenario, when Kingfisher and Jet are playing games and not reducing prices, the least that I would do is withdraw the delayed payment facility as the oil prices have come down tremendously. The airlines are generating positive cash. I would have saved the taxpayer’s money and utilized it elsewhere instead of giving Vijay Mallya GOODTIMES.

Let me make it clear that I am totally against government interference in businesses but when businesses take government help and save themselves a lot of money at the taxpayer’s expense then they should also reciprocate with a positive attitude. What I am against is that both Jet and Kingfisher have made a fool of the government at the expense of taxpayer’s money. I believe Vijay Mallya has saved nearly Rs. 90 crores of interest. Since the times are good with low oil prices, Vijay Mallya should return the interest saved by him or reduce prices immediately.

Its time that the Citizens of this country started having GOODTIMES and not just Vijay Mallya.

Avinash Narula