New Delhi

INDIA'S Prime Minister Narendra Modi came under fire in Parliament after a flamboyant former billionaire who owes as much as US$1 billion to creditors left the country amid efforts by policymakers to rein in rising bad loans in the nation's financial system.

A group of 17 banks in India, fighting to recover dues from Vijay Mallya, chairman and founder of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, found out on Wednesday that their petition to bar him from leaving the country was filed a few days too late. AttorneyGeneral Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court, in response to the bankers' plea, that Mr Mallya had left India on March 2.