SEBI Serves Notice To ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar In Videocon Loan Case
ICICI Bank says it will submit an “appropriate response” after Chanda Kocchar served with SEBI notice.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has served a notice on ICICI Bank Ltd.’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar on dealings of the lender with Videocon Group and NuPower Renewables, an entity promoted by her spouse Deepak Kochhar.
An appropriate response would be submitted to the SEBI, the country’s largest private bank said in a stock exchange filing.
The CBI has launched a preliminary investigation into the Rs 3,250-crore loan that ICICI Bank had extended to Videocon in 2012. It was also probing any possible nepotism by Kochhar.
“The MD & CEO and the Bank received a Notice from SEBI on May 24, 2018 ... requiring responses on matters relating to alleged non-compliance with certain provisions of the erstwhile Listing Agreement and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015,” the bank said in the filing.
Reports have alleged that Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot invested Rs 64 crore in NuPower Renewables, a firm owned by Deepak Kochhar after Videocon secured a loan from a consortium of banks, including ICICI Bank. The bank has denied any wrongdoing in the loan, saying it was part of a consortium of lenders that extended the facility to Videocon.
Last month, ICICI Bank Chairman MK Sharma had said the board has full confidence in Chanda Kochhar and ruled out any quid pro quo as alleged with regard to certain loan given to Videocon group. Earlier, the bank clarified that none of investors of NuPower Renewables are a borrower of ICICI Bank.