On Tuesday, ICICI Bank Extended their Losses to the Second Consecutive Session
On Tuesday, the shares of ICICI Bank extended their losses to the second consecutive session. During the last two sessions, the scrip took a plunge of over 5 percent owing to less palatable news around it. As per a report, a preliminary examination by Sebi has favored adjudication proceedings against the bank and its CEO Chanda Kochhar for alleged violation of listing disclosure norms regarding ‘conflict of interest’ in business dealings of her husband with Videocon Group.
Last week, The ICICI Bank board sent CEO Chanda Kochhar on forced leave, but not without the high drama that saw Kochhar adopting a belligerent stance. She did not accept the decision meekly and put up a show of resistance, according to a TOI report. Kochhar has been sent on forced leave till the completion of an independent investigation into charges of conflict of interest against her in a case of her husband being a beneficiary of loans from the bank’s borrowers.
Apart from this, the bank is also penalized by RBI for selling stipulated debt securities in violation of regulatory directions. So, this is also among the reason for the drop of 6 %. On BSE, the stock reacted to all these cues and slumped 6.59 percent to Rs 260.05. It is also expected that CBI will expand its investigation into the bank’s consortium. The bank consortium had many private banks as its member. According to analysts, the CBI inquiry itself is a long-drawn process and creates uncertainty on the stock price. Besides ICICI, analysts informed that the Videocon Group is charged to have pumped money into NuPower Renewables in return for the loan sanctioned. NuPower Renewables is a firm that is owned by the husband of
Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar. However, the Chairman of Videocon Group, Venugopal Dhoot has mentioned that he is well aware of all the 12 members of the panel. He also declared that they have cleared the loan amount. He also went on saying that personal ties between two people do not always result in criminal acts.
Earlier, the lender, as well as its CEO, has denied any wrongdoing on its part. The bank stated that there is no conflict of interest. Also, Videocon is not an investor in NuPower.