Reputation seems to be the first casualty in the allegations against ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar.
She often features in the list of the most powerful women in the world. As the chief executive of the largest private sector lender in the country, she has been the poster girl for retail banking in India. But, Chanda Kochhar, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, is going through the toughest phase of her career, following an allegation of conflict of interest and personal gains.
Though ICICI Bank has strongly backed her, investigative agencies have begun an initial probe into the matter, which was first brought to light by investor Arvind Gupta. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016, with copies to the finance ministry, Reserve Bank governor and the Securities and Exchange Board of India and some other agencies, Gupta accused Kochhar of “amassing wrongful personal gains” from loans ICICI Bank gave to Videocon Group in 2012.
Kochhar’s husband, Deepak Kochhar, set up NuPower Renewables, a 50:50 joint venture with Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot, in 2008. Gupta said the initial subscribers in this company were the Dhoots, Deepak and Pacific Capital Service, which was owned by Neelam Advani (wife of Chanda’s brother) and Virendra Kochhar, Deepak’s father. He alleged that Dhoot later transferred his shares in NuPower to a trust owned by Deepak. Chanda Kochhar was the joint MD of ICICI Bank at that time.
This story is from the April 15, 2018 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the April 15, 2018 edition of THE WEEK.
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