Former ICICI Bank CEO-MD Chanda Kochhar, husband Deepak Kochhar arrested in Videocon loan case

ICICI Bank and Chanda Kochhar have been under regulatory scrutiny after The Indian Express first reported on March 29, 2018 that Venugopal Dhoot-promoted Videocon Group provided crores of rupees to a firm he had set up with Deepak Kochhar and two relatives six months after the Videocon Group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012.

In 2019, the CBI lodged an FIR against the Kochhars, Dhoot and firms including Nupower Renewables and Videocon Industries. In their FIR, the CBI named Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and unknown public servants as accused in the case. It alleged that “the accused (Chanda Kochhar) sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to cheat ICICI Bank”. The case was filed under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI said the sanctioned loan amount was part of the Rs 40,000-crore loan that Videocon Group secured from a consortium of 20 banks led by SBI. Almost 86 per cent of the Rs 3,250 crore loan (Rs 2,810 crore) remained unpaid. The Videocon account was declared an NPA (non-performing asset) in 2017.

According to CBI, on August 26, 2009, the sanctioning committee of ICICI Bank that included Chanda Kochhar approved a loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) “in contravention of the rules and policy”.

Kochhar, the CBI alleged, “dishonestly” abused her official position to disburse this loan on as the very next day, her husband’s firm Nupower Renewables received Rs 64 crore from Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL) to acquire its first power plant. “…Chanda Kochhar got illegal gratification/undue benefit through her husband from M/s VIL/VN Dhoot for sanctioning RTL (rupee term loan) of Rs 300 crore to M/s VIEL,” the agency said in its FIR.

The CBI, in its FIR, said that rupee term loans sanctioned to five companies of Videocon Group between June 2009 and October 2011 were “in violation of the credit policy of the bank”.

The five firms are Millenium Appliances India Ltd (Rs 175 crore), Sky Appliances Ltd (Rs 240 crore), Techno Electronics Ltd (Rs 110 crore), Applicomp India Ltd (Rs 300 crore) and Videocon Industries Ltd (Rs 750 crore). “Loans sanctioned to M/s SAL, M/s TEL and M/s AIL were for the purpose of enabling then to repay the unsecured loans availed by these companies from M/s VIL. Further, a loan was also sanctioned to M/s VIL for refinancing the existing loans of the company. These loans were sanctioned in violation of credit policy of the bank during the relevant period,” said the CBI FIR.

The CBI said all the credit limits to Videocon Group firms were sanctioned after Kochhar took over as the MD and CEO of ICICI Bank in May 2009. The agency also said Kochhar was part of the sanctioning committee that approved at least two loans of Rs 300 crore and Rs 750 crore respectively to VIEL and VIL.