A DEFAULT SETTING

Across banks, conglomerates and startups, a cascade of crises laid bare the structural flaws beneath India's growth story—and the cost of ambition outpacing regulation

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When Vijay Mallya fled India in March 2016 after his Kingfisher Airlines collapsed under debt, few imagined the moment would become the opening image of a turbulent decade in Indian finance. Declared a fugitive economic offender and locked in a long extradition battle in the UK, Mallya's case put a face to a problem Indian banks had quietly carried for years—reckless lending, weak recovery and fragile oversight.

What followed was a succession of scandals that moved rapidly across sectors—non-banking financial intermediaries, conglomerates and even startups—each revealing a different fault line.