Nothing has changed at Force India: Vijay Mallya

New Delhi: Troubled business tycoon Vijay Mallya on Sunday asserted that his stepping down as chairman of the United Spirits Ltd. will not affect his control in Formula One team, Sahara Force India.

It is widely believed that his USD 75 million (Rs 515 crore) deal with UK-based liquor major Diageo meant that his control is over not only in IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) but also in Force India.

RCB is controlled by USL (in which Diageo holds controlling interest) and the control over Watson Ltd, the UK based company that owns the F1 team, has also shifted to Diageo.

However Mallya, known for his flamboyance, says he still is the boss at Force India.

"Nothing has changed at Force India. I remain Team Principal and Managing Director," Mallya told PTI in an exclusive interaction.

"If you take loan, you give some shares as security. That does not mean security has changed. Diageo may have security over my shares but ownership has not changed. I don't know why is everybody making a deal about it?

"Formula One has nothing to do with my stepping down from United Spirits. They are not connected at all. In F1, nothing has changed. The ownership pattern remains exactly the same," he asserted.

Mallya has 42.5% stake in the team while Sahara Group also has 42.5 % share and the remaining 15% belongs to the Michiel Mol family.

"As far as RCB is concerned, I am chief mentor which means that I am still very much part of the team. I will be present during the IPL."

In his statement after stepping down, Mallya had mentioned about RCB but was silent about Force India.

Mallya had bought RCB in 2008 for a staggering USD 111.6 million, the second only to Mumbai Indians that was bought by Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani for USD 111.9 million.