Mumbai: The board of ICICI Bank Ltd on Wednesday reposed “full faith” in its CEO & MD Chanda Kochhar, amid mounting concerns that the lender may have violated prudential lending norms while disbursing large loans.

The board has full confidence and reposes full faith in the bank’s managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar, ICICI said in a statement. It added that the board reviewed the bank’s internal credit approval processes and found them robust.

The missive comes amid reports that the bank sanctioned loans to debt-laden Videocon Industries Ltd, and another firm ­—NuPower Renewables—founded by Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar.
“No individual employee, whatever may be his or her position, has the ability to influence the credit decision at the Bank,” it clarified adding that none of the investors of NuPower Renewables were borrowers of ICICI Bank.

“On looking at all the above facts, the Board has come to the conclusion that there is no question of any quid pro quo/ nepotism/ conflict of interest as is being alleged in various rumours,” the statement added.

It 2012, Videocon group borrowed `40,000 crore from a consortium of banks, where ICICI’s exposure stands at `3,250 crore based on Credit Committee approval.

On its part, the private lender also said Kochhar was not the chairperson of this committee and that the terms and conditions offered for these loans similar to those offered by other banks in consortium. All
banks including ICICI Bank disbursed the Rupee Term Loan into the common escrow pool account.

The bank has a well-structured and standardised credit approval process, the board claimedin the statement.