Diageo Plc has agreed to acquire a majority stake in United Spirits Ltd for $2.1 billion (Rs 11,166.5 crore) but many experts worry that proceeds from the stake sale will not be enough to allow Vijay Mallya to resolve the cash crisis of his struggling carrier Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.

United Spirits Ltd recently announced that British spirits group agreed to acquire a 53.4 per cent stake in it. To begin with, Diageo will buy a 27.4 per cent stake in United Spirits. Subsequently, it will buy an additional 26 per cent stake through purchase of shares from public shareholders at the same price. The stake sale will fetch Kingfisher around $2.1 billion (Rs 11,166.5 crore).

The deal will definitely eases some of the intense financial pressure being suffered by Mallya, who lost his billionaire ranking at Forbes previous month. But, the proceeds will still fall short of what the carrier requires to raise.

The unprofitable carrier grounded all of its flights last month after its pilots and engineers went on strike. The carrier failed to pay wages to its employees due to its heavy debt pile.

P. Phani Sekhar, a Mumbai-based fund manager with Angel Broking Ltd, said, "Even if the entire proceeds from the deal is plowed into Kingfisher Airlines that would hardly be enough to erase existing debt, let alone any question of infusing fresh equity."

Kingfisher Airlines Ltd never reported a profit since it started operations in 2005. In the quarter ended September, it reported a net loss of Rs 7.54 billion.