Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher House In Mumbai

One of Vijay Mallya's flagship properties in Mumbai, Kingfisher House, is being auctioned online today.

The base price for the office at Andheri in Mumbai's western suburbs has been fixed at Rs. 150 crore.

The e-auction is being managed by an arm of the state-run State Bank of India, one of the 17 banks trying to recover at least a billion dollars loaned to Mr Mallya's grounded Kingfisher Airlines.

At least 15 offers are reportedly in.

The auction is taking place a day before Mr Mallya has been summoned for questioning as part of an investigation related to one of the bank loans.

Sources in the Enforcement Directorate, which has summoned Mr Mallya, say "it has to be a personal appearance, he can't send his lawyer."

Mr Mallya is reportedly in the UK amid attempts to recover over Rs. 6,000 crore loaned to Kingfisher Airlines, which stopped operating in 2012. "I am not an absconder," the businessman tweeted last week.

The banks had asked the Supreme Court to stop Mr Mallya from travelling abroad but the government told the court that he had left the country on March 2.

On a request from the banks, a court recently put on hold the payment of $75 million or 515 crores by Diageo to Mr Mallya as part of a settlement under which the liquor baron would step down as the chairman of United Spirits.

Ranked the 45th-richest Indian with a net worth of $1 billion by Forbes in March 2012, Mr Mallya is known to have lavish homes in Mumbai, Goa, Delhi and also London. His flamboyant lifestyle also features a fleet of luxury cars and a yacht.