With one of the world's most expensive yachts and a cricket and Formula One team, Kingfisher Airlines' billionaire Chairman Vijay Mallya is known as "King of the Good Times" for a jet set lifestyle that shadowed India's own rise as an economic power.

Now India's "Richard Branson", a symbol of the hands-on, publicity-hungry and ambitious Indian entrepreneur, faces the possible collapse of his debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines - and some soul searching about his extravagance.

Image: Vijay Mallya seen with Shane Warne and Anil Kumble at the IPL during happier times.

Text: Alistair Scrutton and Sanjeev Choudhary, Reuters

AP Images