Ex-ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar arrested: What is the Videocon loan case?

ICICI-Videocon loan case: Chanda Kochhar, former ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director, and her husband Deepak Kochhar were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday for alleged cheating and irregularities in an over Rs 3,000-crore loan provided to the Videocon Group by the bank during her tenure in 2012.  

The CBI said that the Kochhars were evasive in their responses and did not cooperate in the investigation. They will be produced before a special CBI court on Saturday. 

As per the case details, Nupower Renewable was owned by Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak. Videocon promoter Venugopal Dhoot allegedly invested crores of rupees in Nupower months after the Videocon Group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012, which was sanctioned by Chanda.  

But eventually, the loan to Videocon turned into a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), or bad loan, and was later marked as a 'bank fraud'. In October 2018, Chanda Kochhar, now 59, stepped down as the CEO and MD of the bank, and charges were put that she “favoured Videocon Group”, a consumer electronics and oil and gas exploration company. 

In an FIR issued in 2019, the CBI said that the accused, Chanda, sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with others to cheat ICICI Bank. In September 2020, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Deepak Kochhar as one of the main accused in the ICICI-Videocon loan case, and was booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 

The CBI has now booked Chanda Kochhar, her husband and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group, along with companies Nupower Renewables, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said. 

The case in details 

As per the details, a massive loan of Rs 3,250 crore was disbursed by ICICI Bank to the Videocon Group, controlled by the industrialist Venugopal Dhoot, when Chanda was leading the bank. As per CBI inputs, Videocon group, under Dhoot, had made around 28 proposals to the ICICI Bank. Only 8 such proposals were passed by Chanda Kochhar-led team. She was also part of the recommending committee which verified and passed four such proposals made by the Videocon group.  

Initially, the Bank issued loans worth Rs 1,875 crore to the Videocon Group and the sister companies between 2009 and 2011. Most of these loans were in complete violations of banking regulations and ICICI Bank policies, as per CBI. 

After the loan was disbursed, Dhoot's company Supreme Energy issued a loan of Rs 64 crore to NuPower Renewables, where Deepak Kochhar had a 50 per cent stake. 

The CBI has mentioned that the Rs 64-crore loan to Deepak Kochhar's firm was part of a quid pro quo deal. 

While probing the case, ED found that the loans sanctioned to the Videocon group were kept alive by evergreening or refinancing of loans worth around Rs 1,730 crore, which turned into bad loans for ICICI Bank in June 2017.