Kochhar family booked

THIS March, Chanda Kochhar, the star and brand ambassador of ICICI Bank, would have completed a decade at the helm, after replacing her mentor and private sector banking cult figure KV Kamath. Chanda would have been copiously serenaded for her perseverance and fortitude if it hadn’t been for a persistent whistleblower.  The course that such a complaint took was familiar. For two years, the letter may have meandered among regulatory agencies till the matter burst into life in 2016, forcing the ICICI to issue a blanket denial about a conflict of interest between Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and Chanda’s husband and brother-in law when she was heading the bank. 

The fire was lit, but Chanda’s enabling ecosystem fought back and that raises troubling questions that must be answered. The bank gave her a clean chit while rubbishing the allegation of quid pro quo as “malicious and unfounded rumours”. The bank then purportedly reviewed its internal processes for credit approval and found them robust. Worryingly, the poster boys of private banking — Kamath, Sandeep Bakhshi and Zarin Daruwala — were on the ICICI board when the loans were sanctioned and they found nothing amiss. This tale of cronyism, nepotism, corruption and protecting each other’s back needs an answer too, even as the CBI unravels the Padma Bhushan awardee’s fall from the pedestal.  

It is worrisome that a leading light of private sector banking may have indulged in the same shenanigans that we were told was the preserve of the public sector, with its sordid politicians and indolent officials. It would have become another partly-explained Choksi-Mallya saga if the CBI had not detained Chanda’s brother-in-law when he was about to board an overseas flight. The alleged acquiescence of the high-profile bankers who were supposed to be gold standards of integrity, successive auditors scanning the balance sheets and government representatives on the board must also be asked hard questions. At a time when insurance is spreading its wings in the hinterland of the country and private banks are proliferating, a thorough probe is required to sustain public trust in private financial institutions.