Did She? Did She Not?

After the big Nirav Modi fraud, the next in the line of fire for fraudulent activities in the banking sector has been ICICI Bank’s CEO Chanda Kochhar. Allegations of unlawful loans extended to groups for her own vested interests and involving her family into the bank’s core functioning stand against Kochhar as she completes her term at the bank next year. While the CBI investigates the matter, the verdict of this controversy hangs loose for now.

- Robin Banerjee

Most of us have some relationship with one of the most noticeable Indian brands, the ICICI Bank. Be it an account holder, borrower or just an ATM user, the omnipresent bank touches almost all of us in some way or the other. In March 2018, however, most of us were in for a shock! The media carried lead stories of possible ill-governance in running the ICICI Bank’s affairs, and that too by the bank’s CEO, Chanda Kochhar, herself.

What could the developments mean for you and me? At a broad level, if any bank is not run well, there is every possibility that our hard earned savings deposited with the bank may be open to risk. Banks are the arteries of any economy, and any hiccup could entail impairment to the heart of the economic-management of any country.

What is the ruckus? 

What is the noise all about? It pertains to allegations of impropriety by ICICI bank’s CEO, Ms Kochhar, in extending loans to some companies, and her family enjoying reciprocal benefits. An investor Arvind Gupta’s blog post in March 2016 and a recent newspaper follow-up investigation report suggested possible conflicts of interest in relation to her husband’s business dealings. It also questioned whether large loans given (recoverability of which is now in doubt) to the Videocon group has been solely guided by commercial principles or otherwise.