RBI report points to lapses at ICICI under Kochhar

At a time its former chief executive Chanda Kochhar is under judicial custody in a kickbacks-for-loans case, it has emerged that adverse observations were made in a risk assessment report by banking regulator the Reserve Bank of India with regard to a 335 crore loan sanctioned by ICICI Bank in 2014.

- Anirudh Laskar

Kochhar was the managing director and CEO of the bank at the time.

The subject of the regulator's remarks was the ₹335 crore loan sanctioned in 2014 to an Indian company, part of which was utilized by it to repay a foreign currency loan owed by a group company to ICICI UK worth ₹325 crore. After the first tranche of ₹25 crore was disbursed, however, the bank discontinued the facility.

The observations are part of the central bank's 2018 Risk Assessment Report (RAR) on ICICI Bank. While RARS are confidential, the relevant portions that reveal the central bank's displeasure were revealed in September 2022 in response to a Right to Information application filed by a person who asked not to be named. Mint has reviewed a copy of the RTI response.