United Breweries Group was India's beer empire — then its founder started an airline

The United Breweries Group began with a brewery in 1857 and grew into India's largest alcoholic-beverage conglomerate, holding more than half the country's beer market with its flagship Kingfisher brand. Vijay Mallya inherited the group from his father in 1983 and expanded it into a diversified empire spanning brewing, spirits, chemicals, engineering and biotechnology.

In 2005, Mallya launched Kingfisher Airlines — a full-service carrier positioned as a 'king-class' experience. The airline was financed largely by debt secured against the group's brewing assets. Two years later it acquired the loss-making low-cost carrier Air Deccan. The airline never turned a profit; by 2011 it was losing more than ₹10 billion per year. While the airline bled cash, Mallya also spent on a Formula One team, a cricket league and luxury properties abroad.

On 20 October 2012, Kingfisher Airlines suspended operations after its licence was revoked. The airline owed ₹90 billion ($1.2 billion) to a consortium of 13 banks — debt guaranteed by the group's holding company. Banks seized UB Group assets. In June 2021, Heineken bought Mallya's remaining 15% stake in United Breweries Ltd for ₹5,825 crore ($730 million) from the Debt Recovery Tribunal, taking control of the beer business. Vijay Mallya left India for the United Kingdom in March 2016 and fought extradition for years. The brewing empire his father had built was gone.