Chanda Kochhar: The former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India or ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar was recently arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI. Her husband is also held in custody along with her. She is alleged to be involved in a money laundering case arising from sanctioning a loan that regulates the rules of the Reserve Bank of India. Along with the Kochhars, the loan recipient, Videocon Group’s Chairman, Venugopal Dhoot was arrested too. Under Chanda’s watch, ICICI Bank gained substantial growth.
She has filed a case against her husband and her arrest in the High Court as well. In the following detailed biography, you can check all the details pertaining to her arrest, net worth, husband, car, salary, business, assets, and much more.
Who is Chanda Kochhar?
Recently arrested for a Money Laundering and Banking Fraud case, Chanda Kochhar is a Padma Bhushan recipient. She is the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank. She is the youngest and first woman to have become the CEO of ICICI Bank and one of the leading women in the field. Her contributions to the bank and diligence in the field of finance are recognised within the nation as well as worldwide.
Early Life and Educational Background
Kochhar was born Chanda Advani on 17 November 1961 and brought up in Jodhpur, Rajasthan in a Hindu Sindhi family. She completed her schooling in her home state at the St. Angela Sophia School, Jaipur, later moving to Mumbai in order to obtain a commerce degree from the University of Mumbai. She joined the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies to obtain a Master’s in Management degree where she received J. N. Bose Gold Medal in Cost Accountancy and Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence.
Profession of former ICICI CEO & MD, Chanda Kochhar
Chanda Kochhar joined the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India or ICICI Bank as a management trainee in 1984. She was one of the core members of the team that was prominent in establishing the bank and making it rise, years later. She held positions of Assistant General Manager, Deputy General Manager, General Manager, Executive Director, Deputy Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer, and Joint Managing Director before being promoted to the post of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in 2009. She played a crucial role in the development, recognition and development of the ICICI Bank. She led the firm to win major awards in finance categories. She stepped down from her position in 2018 due to an ongoing investigation and was later fired.
Kochhar was awarded Retail Banker of the Year by Asian Banker in 2004 and was named the Business Woman of the Year by Economic Times in 2005. She was also perpetually declared the Most Powerful Women in Business on Fortune’s list since 2005. Bombay Times featured her in the Most Powerful Women – Hall of Fame in 2011 and Bloomberg included her in the 50 Most Influential People in Global Finance list in the same year. She was also awarded Padma Bhushan in 2011 for being the leading lady in the Finance world and later she was named BW’s Most Influential Women in 2017. She was also honoured with Woodrow Wilson Award for Global Corporate Citizenship in Washington.
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Salary, Cars, Assets and Net Worth of Chanda Kochhar
Chanda Kochhar is believed to own properties in real estate and a lavish mansion in Mumbai. Her salary is anticipated to be Rs. 5.5 crores annually and her personal investments in various properties and shares are reported as Rs 13.8 crores. Additionally, she owns luxury cars such as a Mercedes Benz and Ford which amount to Rs. 1.1 crores. Her net worth is estimated as Rs. 24 crores which have seen an abundant rise in years post her employment at the ICICI Bank.
Who is Deepak Kochhar?
On 23 December 2022, Deepak Kochhar was arrested along with Chanda. He happens to be her husband and they met while pursuing their higher education at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. The two got married and post their marriage, they developed very strong financial stability as Chanda aced on to be a prominent name in the ICICI Bank and Deepak explored business ventures. In 2008, he established NuPower Renewables along with the Videocon group chairman, Venugopal Dhoot. Kochhar is the Cheif Executive Officer of the firm.
Deepak and Chanda have a son named Arjun and a daughter named Arti. The latter’s marriage was a big affair and celebrities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani, and more attended the ceremony. The couple was arrested by CBI ahead of Arjun’s wedding. Deepak’s brother is also a businessman and his father was an officer in the Indian Navy.
What is the ICICI Bank Loan Fraud Case?
The former Chief Executive Officer of the ICICI Bank Private Limited, Chanda Kochhar stepped down due to a controversy in 2018 regarding a money laundering case. The bank fired her due to her involvement in the fraud case and the Supreme Court condoned the decision of the firm. She was constantly under the radar for the case and in 2022, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested her, her husband, and Videocon’s Venugopal Dhoot.
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The case was so, in 2018, there were reports that Dhoot paid a whopping amount to the Kochhars after a loan of Rs. 3,250 crores was sanctioned to the Videocon group in 2012 by ICICI Bank’s then CEO, Chanda. He invested in her husband, Deepak’s establishment, NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd and further transferred the ownership of his part to a trust owned by Deepak. The loan sanctioned by the Bank also violated the regulations of the Reserve Bank of India RBI. Chanda stepped down from her position amidst the allegations and investigation and ended up being fired by ICICI Bank. SEBI also demanded clarification from Chanda in the same case. It was later reported in 2019 that the three accused, Chanda, Deepak, and Venugopal also cheated and frauded the bank of an amount of Rs. 1,730 crores.
Enforcement Directorate ED was involved in the case along with the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI. Further, there were many requests to involve the Ministry of Finance and Union Finance Minister urging them to withdraw the Civilian honours such as Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan from Chanda. Further, ED found a link of properties worth Rs. 78 crores to the laundering case and later in August 2021, submitted a report to the Special PMLA Court against the three accused. The Securities Appellate Tribunal ordered interim relief for Chanda as she was not rightly provided with the appropriate documents by SEBI.
In 2016, the activist shareholder, Arvind Gupta, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi explaining to him the illegal commercial relationships built by Kochhars and Dhoot at the cost of the bank’s integrity. The letter was missed by the PM causing Gupta to publically post the letter causing RBI to finally step in and take up the case. Initially, there were no concrete relationships discovered within the proximity of the case but while the Nirav Modi scam was on a wild chase in 2018, the public letter Gupta gained subsequent attention. Finally, CBI stepped in and investigated the case. They detected that the CEO of the bank played a very crucial role in sanctioning the faulty loan to the Videocon group and this caused a loss of Rs. 1,730 crores to ICICI.
The present arrests have been made due to the conclusions drawn by the Bureau on the basis of substantial evidence obtained by investigating the case for a long time. The Kochhars challenged the arrest in the Bombay High Court while explaining that the arrest was made four years after the FIR was lodged and the CBI did not follow the appropriate procedures. HC responded to the submissions by the Kochhar by not providing them interim relief and further rejected their plea for an urgent hearing. Dhoot’s lawyers have also revolted against his arrest declaring that the CBI could not have done so citing that he is dealing with medical issues. The court shall take up the matter after the regular bench resumes the hearing process post vacations.
