Vijay Mallya's birthday wish: Time to slow down, semi-retire & enjoy life

With talk of tracing liquor baron Vijay Mallya's UK whereabouts gathering speed, ETPanache moves back to its exclusive interaction with the 'wilful defaulter' on February 4 On his 60th birthday bash in Goa.

"I told my friends that I am celebrating my 20th birthday for the third time. My friends are my biggest assets in the life and my guest list has not changed much since what it was 30 years ago."

On retiring and a succession plan

"I have three children.All of them are American citizens and all three live in America. So there's just me. There is no succession plan. But it's now time to slow down, semi-retire and enjoy life. Horse racing is a part of that enjoyment."

On racing and sponsoring a derby

"I am passionate about winning races, I am passionate about participating in the Indian Derby. But more importantly, there is a marketing logic behind what I started out to do 32 years ago and which continues even today. In the early 80s, Indian Derby was the richest race in India but lacked the reach it has today. So I saw this (the sponsorship) as a great opportunity to appeal to our target audience."