Her chapter at ICICI Bank came to an abrupt end in 2018 after the board of directors approved Kochhar’s request to apply at the earliest. retirement vindictive when lending to people who are now bankrupt after allegations of corruption Videocon Industries,
Kochhar, who rose to occupy the corner office of the largest private sector lender, has been mired in allegations of conflict of interest, lack of disclosure and compensation while lending to Videocon. In fact, she was the first woman to head a large lender in the country.
Kochhar, a favorite of the then group chairman KV Kamath, joined infrastructure lender ICICI in its earlier avatar as a management trainee in 1984. One Commercial Bank In the early 1990s.
In 2009, he was chosen as Kamath’s successor as managing director and chief executive despite a strong leadership bench. With his promotion Shikha Sharma (Ex axis Bank chief), who was senior to him in ranking in the group.
Prior to her advancement to the corner office, she was a key member of the bank’s management, overseeing the retail business and also serving as chief financial officer.
While Kamath faced several bank runs during his tenure, Kochhar’s firm control over the institution completely prevented such negative press. There was only one bank run incident during his tenure. when a reserve Bank of India After a review in 2015 found the bank had a high amount of under-reported assets, it announced a new strategy to focus only on borrowers with good ratings.
He also supported many social causes but it was his inspirational uplifting which was most admired. Nevertheless, she confused many with her contrary views such as that girls lack quantitative analytical skills, due to which the number of women in B-schools is limited.
Over the years, her leadership of the bank became a hyphenated relationship in which she came to define ICICI Bank until she formally announced her exit six months after allegations of impropriety first surfaced, although she remained on the board. After that she was on indefinite leave. was forced to launch an external inquiry into the entire matter.
the reasons for his expulsion are related to a debt Videocon and the business relationship between its promoter Venugopal Dhoot and her husband Deepak Kochhar. Dhoot had invested in a power company promoted by Deepak and the latter had exited and Chanda Kochhar did not disinherit herself or take over when the loan was given by ICICI Bank to Videocon as part of the consortium. was not disclosed.
Initially, he had the full support of the board, but lost support as the list of allegations kept growing, with more names such as Ruia’s running an Essar Group shell company with which the Kochhar family had links.
However, the profits from the Ruia ties were only a fraction of Videocon’s Rs 3,250 crore loan in FY11, which soon turned bad. These allegations led to investigations by multiple agencies including CBI, ED and SFIO.
In the end, it was a complaint by an informant, who has not yet been named, that proved him wrong.
After Videocon initially cleared her of the allegations, the bank commissioned an independent inquiry by retired judge BN Srikrishna and Kochhar went on indefinite leave pending the inquiry. This led to Sandeep Bakshi being made Chief Operating Officer to oversee the day-to-day operations.
Kochhar had six months before her current term ends in March 2019. Regulations allow private sector bank chiefs to continue in office till the age of 70 years. His offer to resign was accepted with immediate effect.
Over the past few months, shareholders have sought clarity on the issue at the annual meetings and also raised concerns over the bank’s move to appoint him as chairman of the group’s securities arm. Kochhar, who maintained a huge public profile, had been away from the public glare since her forced discharge.
From a performance perspective, when he acquired ICICI Bank, it was the second largest in the system and the largest among its private sector peers. But towards the end of its career, it slipped to the third position in the sector and later became the second largest private sector lender. HDFC bank,