Chanda Kochhar Given Clean Chit by ICICI Bank Board, Refutes Favouritism, Nepotism Rumours

ICICI Bank has given a clean chit to CEO and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar, and said that, there was no question of favouritism, nepotism or conflict of interest in granting loans to Videocon Industries or any other company. ICICI Bank said in a BSE filing after the Board meeting on Wednesday that, “no individual employee, whatever may be his or her position, has the ability to influence the credit decision at the bank."

According to the release issued by the bank, the Board reposed full faith in Kochchar and also commended the entire management team under the leadership of the MD & CEO for their hard work and dedication. It urged people not to be misled by these rumours which are being spread to malign the Bank and its top management.

Last week, the country's largest bank was engulfed in a controversy, post a blogpost that was circulated on social media, highlighting a possible nexus between Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables firm and Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot and thereby ICICI bank’s involvement in saving Videocon Group from debt defaults.

As per reports, 2012, a consortium of over 20 banks and financial institutions sanctioned facilities to the Videocon group (Videocon Industries Ltd and 12 of its subsidiaries/ associates as co-obligors) for a debt consolidation programme and for the group’s oil and gas capital expenditure programme aggregating approximately Rs 40,000 crore. The filing highlighted, "

“ICICI Bank’s share of the banking sector’s exposure to the Videocon group was less than 10 percent while around 90 percent of the loans were sanctioned by other banks and financial institutions."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 29, 2018 10:42 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).