ICICI Bank chairman MK Sharma reiterates stand on Videocon issue

ICICI Bank chairman MK Sharma on Thursday read out a statement largely reiterating the line taken by the bank’s board on Wednesday, adding that managing director and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar had made all necessary disclosures while sitting on the credit committee that sanctioned loans to the Videocon group in 2012. At a press conference, Sharma said the board deemed there to be no conflict of interest with respect to her role in the process. “We’ve also been receiving some questions from various quarters in this regard and let me proactively address them,” he said, adding, “Kochhar was a part of the credit committee which sanctioned the loan facilities to the Videocon group. The board does not see (that) as a conflict of interest in any manner since Videocon group is not an investor in NuPower Renewables. Hence, there was no need to recuse herself from this committee.

Sharma added that ICICI Bank has responded to all regulatory queries pertaining to the matter. “I would like to add that we have satisfactorily replied to the questions of all the regulators, which is an ongoing process between a regulated entity like ICICI Bank and the regulators and other government departments. However, this is a privileged information between the regulators and the bank and it would be totally inappropriate for me to go public with that,” he observed. The bank’s chairman headed out without taking any questions from representatives of the press.

ICICI Bank