Months after allegations emerged against ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar of having personal interest and gains in loans sanctioned to Videocon Industries, Chanda Kochhar has sought ‘early retirement’ from her CEO post, which has been accepted by the bank’s board of directors. “The Board of Directors of ICICI Bank Limited, accepted the request of Ms Chanda Kochhar to seek early retirement from the Bank at the earliest. The Board accepted this request with immediate effect,” the bank said in a filing to the exchanges on Thursday.
The statement also said that this will not affect the inquiry instituted by the Board and certain benefits will be subject to the outcome of the inquiry. Kochhar will also relinquish office from the Board of Directors of the Bank's subsidiaries. The board decided to appoint Sandeep Bakhshi as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
“His appointment will be for a period of five years until October 3, 2023, subject to regulatory and other approvals. The other terms and conditions of his appointment, such as remuneration, would remain unchanged,” the statement added.
Earlier this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a preliminary inquiry against Chanda Kochhar’s husband, Deepak Kochhar, and Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of the Videocon group, to investigate the loan given to the company for evidence of wrongdoing.
The issue started with Arvind Gupta, an ICICI Bank shareholder, writing to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and all investigating agencies accusing the Kochhars of wrongful gains from loans sanctioned to Videocon in 2012.
ICICI Bank was part of a Rs 40,000 crore loan extended to Videocon by a consortium of 20 banks.
Gupta’s letter alleged that Deepak benefitted from this as his firm NuPower Renewables was set up as a 50-50 joint venture between the Kochhars and Dhoots, who are family members of the Videocon Group. Chanda Kochhar is accused of having favoured the sanctioning of the loan to the company to benefit her husband. After the letter by Arvind Gupta came to light, Indian Express too alleged a connection between Videocon and the Kochhars.
More recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) reportedly issued show cause notices to ICICI Bank, Kochhar and others after its preliminary examination.
According to a PTI report, ICICI Bank replied to the show cause notice seeking to settle the issues through consent mechanism.