Chanda Kochhar- Videocon sweet deal: ICICI Chairman M K Sharma denies any favour done to Videocon, answered regulator's queries

ICICI bank’s Chairman M K Sharma said that he has replied satisfactorily to questions from regulators over the alleged favors to the Videocon group and its chairman Venugopal Dhoot by giving the group an easy loan.

“There have also been questions raised as to whether the regulators reached out to us with queries. I would like to clearly state that we always satisfactorily reply to questions of regulators.” Sharma said. But he did not give the name of any regulator.

However, he did not reveal the details of the responses. He said “This is privileged information between the regulators and the company, and hence, we cannot share any specific information about this”.

An investigative report published in the Indian Express accused the bank of quid pro quo and nepotism in extending credit to the Videocon group and its associate Nupower.

After publishing the report, the ICICI bank boar came out in support of its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chanda Kochhar.

The bank said that none of NuPower Renewables’s investors were borrower of ICICI Bank.

Videocon Chairman Dhoot also denied giving any loan to any company and individual. He said “The Videocon group has not given any loan to any company or individual related to Kochhar. We exited investments in NuPower within 20 days in January 2009. We also sold our shares in Supreme Energy in 2010.”

He also said that he was questioned by the government or investigative agencies on the matter. He “We have not received any communication from any government investigating agencies with regard to these transactions. ICICI Bank has also not asked any questions.” However, he said that Videocon invested only about  Rs 50,000 in NuPower Renewables.