The team has yet to score a point after 10 races this year, and neither Giancarlo Fisichella nor Adrian Sutil has made it into the second session of qualifying.
However, Mallya feels Force India are a work in progress, and they have managed to outshine a number of their rivals who work with bigger budgets.
"Let's look at the hard facts - we've had a 12th-placed finish and a 10th-placed finish," asserted Mallya.
"We've had double finishes and very competitive races - just look at Monaco.
"We've raced with teams whose budgets are twice as much as ours, with manufacturer support, and we've finished ahead of them - you can't take this away from us.
"What I am really pleased about, however, is the progress we have made in the times relative to others. I can honestly say we are the most improved team on the grid.
"Last year we were four seconds off the front and two seconds from the rear of the field, but in the German Grand Prix we were just one second from the top five.
"No other team has found two seconds from last year, so clearly this is a reason to be satisfied."
Ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, the last before F1 heads off on its summer break, Mallya has no regrets about taking up the task of resurrecting his team's fortunes.
It has meant dipping into his vast personal fortune to do so, but he added: "It's been every bit as good, and as frustrating, as I expected it to be.
"I'm very proud of what this small team has achieved, and how we are pulling together to show some good progress and showings that no-one in the field expected us to do.
"On the other hand there have been challenges, as I knew there would be, and disappointments, but the good far outweighs the bad.
"I have no regrets at all about becoming involved in the team, and I am really looking forward to the second part of the year."
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