Chanda Kochhar quits ICICI Bank: Here's a look at key points of her career

34 years after joining ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar on Thursday took early retirement from the bank. 

Born in Jaipur, Kochhar has a degree in economics from Jai Hind College and an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. It was in a campus interview during her MBA days when she met K V Kamath. She joined the bank in 1984 and worked her way up to become managing director and chief executive officer.

Kochhar was appointed Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Bank in 2009 at a time when India was caught in a tailspin due to the 2008 financial meltdown. 

The period was a turning point for ICICI Bank. From Rs 857 billion in March 2008, ICICI Bank’s market cap had fallen to Rs 370 billion a year later, and its bad debts were piling up. Once Kochhar took over the reins, she lost no time in switching to recovery mode, slashing operational costs, and avoiding overseas acquisitions even when they were going cheap.

Kochhar made her reputation of a decisive leader and her style included a punishing work schedule.

The major actions taken by Kochhar to drive next phase of growth at ICICI Bank included the estimated Rs 30 billion integration with Bank of Rajasthan and almost doubling the number of branches from 1,400 to 2,500 across 600 cities between 2009 and 2011. 

Owing to her actions, the bank's gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio had come down from 5 per cent to 3 per cent by the end of 2014.

She will also be remembered for bringing a technological revolution in the bank. In 2013, ICICI Bank under Kochhar took on the digital world by launching an app that allowed customers to track accounts, and even transfer money from Facebook. 

However, ICICI Bank bogged down with the baggage of bad loans, something which Kochhar could not contain. Bad debt had also ballooned to Rs 460 billion by the end of 2017.

It was in March 2018 that Chanda Kochhar came in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons as the allegations of nepotism suggest she was involved in extending loans to Videocon, which in turn funded her husband Deepak Kochhar’s firm.