Responded to Sebi showcause notice, but no settlement offer: ICICI Bank

ICICI Bank and its Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar have replied to a show cause notice for alleged violation of listing disclosure norms, said market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

On May 23, Sebi had issued a show cause notice to ICICI Bank and Chanda Kochhar for violating disclosure norms in connection with the conflict of interest in business dealings of Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar with Videocon Group.

“Some replies have come and we are examining the same. The bank has discussed the consent option informally,” said Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagi.

Confirming the development, the bank said it had filed the response with Sebi, but not any settlement offer. “We have submitted our response to the show cause notice issued by Sebi. We would like to clarify that we have not filed any application for settlement,” said an ICICI Bank spokesperson.

A consent application is typically filed when the aggrieved party wants to settle the case without the main hearing in exchange for a lesser charge or for a more lenient sentence and/or dismissal of certain related charges. Also, there is a time period of 60 days to file the settlement plea after the notice is served. In this case, the deadline has expired for both ICICI Bank and Chanda Kochhar to file a settlement.

Sources said that in its reply to Sebi, the bank and its chief have refuted the allegation of violating disclosure norms. The bank said it was not aware of the alleged conflict of interest situation and hence couldn’t make any disclosures required under the listing regulations. Chanda Kochhar said she was not aware about the business dealings of her husband Deepak Kochhar with Videocon Industries.

ICICI Bank was part of the 20-bank consortium that granted a loan of Rs 400 billion to Videocon Group. ICICI Bank lent Rs 32.5 billion to Videocon.

ICICI Bank’s board has constituted an independent inquiry under the supervision of former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna to probe the case.