ICICI Bank has been in the spotlight in the last couple of months, after a whistle blower investor alleged conflict of interest in the lender giving loans to the Videocon Group. Deepak Kochhar, the husband of ICICI Bank's MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar had set up a 50:50 joint venture NuPower Renewables along with Venugopal Dhoot, the chairman of Videocon Group. It has been alleged that ICICI Bank extended loans to various Videocon Group companies months after complete transfer of the ownership and control of NuPower to Kochhar's family.
On Monday, after the ICICI Bank board meeting, Chanda Kochhar did not comment much on the allegations, only stating that the board had already made its stand very clear on the matter and the lender would continue to cooperate with the regulatory and investigative agencies.
The ICICI board has thus far strongly backed the MD and CEO, stating there is no question of any quid pro quo or conflict of interest and that the loans were given as a part of loans extended by a wider consortium of lenders.
Meanwhile, when asked about the rise in NPAs, Kochhar said that a lot of stress on the balance sheet had already been recognised. She expects that there will be some more additions to NPAs going ahead, however, the additions will be lower than earlier. The bank will also focus strongly on recoveries and has targeted to bring down the net NPAs to under 1.5 per cent by 2020.
In a bid to de-risk its balance sheet, Kochhar said the bank also aims to grow its retail loan book to over 60 per cent of total.
The ICICI Bank board meets again on Tuesday. However, it will be a routine meeting that is held at the beginning of the financial year to chart out the strategy and budget planning for the year, clarified Kochhar.