Videocon Case: CBI Grill ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar’s Brother-in-Law

Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO of ICICI Bank

(Photo courtesy: Facebook)

The Central Bureau of Investigation, on Thursday, 5 April, questioned ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar's brother-in-law Rajeev Kochhar in connection with the ICICI Videocon case.

The CBI clarified that Rajeev Kochhar had not been arrested and that he had only been questioned in connection with the ICICI-Videocon case.

ICICI Bank Ltd’s shareholder wealth has eroded by nearly 12 percent – or Rs 27,000 crore – since the middle of March following allegations of nepotism around loans worth over Rs 3,250 crore given to the Videocon Group in 2012. Videocon Group has since been classified as a non-performing asset.

The allegations stem from a whistleblower’s blog that questions investments made by the Videocon Group’s founder Venugopal Dhoot in NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd, a company founded by Deepak Kochhar, the husband of ICICI Bank’s managing director and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar.

While the bank’s board and chairman MK Sharma last week denied the allegations vigorously, the ICICI Bank stock has lost over 12 percent since the controversy first grabbed headlines.

Dhoot also denied all allegations of impropriety in the loans received by his company. There was no quid pro quo from ICICI Bank to Videocon, he told PTI.

ICICI Bank Ltd also expressed its "full faith" in chief executive Chanda Kochhar to dispel concerns that resurfaced around the sanctioning of loans to debt-laden Videocon Industries Ltd, and alleged loans to a firm founded by her husband.

The board has full confidence and reposes full faith in the bank's managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar, the private lender said in a stock exchange filing in March 2018. The board also reviewed the bank's internal credit approval processes and found them robust, the filing added.