Mallya - The Billionaire Businessman or The Big Blackmailer

Vijay Mallya - the liquor baron needs no introduction for each one of us has either drunk his beer, flew by his airlines or simply envied him for his calenders and swimsuit models.

Till few years back, Mallya had only one business of minting money- Selling fermented water in the name of good times. Slowly and gradually, he expanded his empire to make United Breweries one of the largest liquor companies not only in India but whole of the world - now, what next?

Mallya spotted an opportunity of selling the fictious dream of good times further by launching "Kingfisher Airlines", the five star comfort in the sky. He is a master in understanding and exploiting the psyche of Indian male - having made them drink beer for ages, now it was time for beauty. So, here comes Mr. Mallya with all his air-hostesses dressed in deep red tight skirts - luring the Indian males into closed cabins of Kingfisher Airlines.

Now, that the first fort of building the brand image was conquered, he needed to build the size. Just in case, if you thought he was going to do that by lining up Airbus 380's, you totally missed his business sense. He spotted a bakra in Capt. Gopinath of Air Deccan struggling to barely keep his aeroplanes flying (in a literal sense).

Now, here is the irony at its best - Kingfisher, the symbol of luxury and comfort combines with the airline of common man, Air Deccan - also known as Air Dhakkan for its lowest fares and highest delays (I know of cases where people reached earlier by train than Deccan). But, Mallya the Magician does it all and colors the Deccan red - Kingfisher Red.

Whoa - he gains a large fleet, presence on more routes than even Air India and a significant influence in the private airline industry, all of this overnight by a stroke of pen and some pittance to Capt. Gopinath. The airlines industry which was dominated till now by some unknown Marwari businessman called Naresh Goel of Jet Airways (who was getting fooled by Subroto Roy into paying an astronomical sum for an ailing Sahara Airlines), gets its new father figure - Mallya.

Next, he teaches the tricks of the trade like cost cutting to Mr. Goel (who stupidly fires all employees next day only to get reprimanded by the govt, later Mallya taught him lobbying too :P)and buys out the competition to be on his side - not only, Jet Airways but also Air India (otherwise why do you think our own minister Mr. Patel is justifying the demands of Mr. Mallya in public :P). With this part of the act done, the private airline market comes under his full control because it is largely a duopoly system controlled by Mallya and Goel.

Now, he plays the final trump card - STRIKE. Yes, all the private airlines who were killing each other for every extra passenger will go on a strike together on August 18 bringing the total air system to a halt. Mr. Mallya has demanded the government to bail him out, put in capital to buy his expensive equity and reduce taxes for his luxury - what a great idea to earn not only a free meal ticket, but a full feast at the expense of poor taxpayer's money. I guess he missed out on mentioning about why the government bailout money is essential for buying another yacht for him so that he can relax there (ofcourse with all his hot models) while thinking about making flying affordable for the common man.

It is a clear blackmail to government from Mallya - I will bring whole of air traffic to a halt and will hold you to ransom until you agree to bow to my wishes.

I believe this entry and control of airlines industry in India by Mallya is one of the best examples of amazing execution of well thought out business strategy which is taught in no business school around the world. In my view, Mallya is an astute businessman who does not mind wearing any hat including that of a blackmailer in order to achieve his goals.