Girish Chandra Chaturvedi named ICICI Bank's non-exec part-time chairman

Private sector lender ICICI Bank appointed former bureaucrat Girish Chandra Chaturvedi as its non-executive part-time chairman on Friday. 

Chaturvedi is a 1977-batch IAS officer, who retired as the Oil Secretary in January 2013.  

The bank will now send Chaturvedi's name to the Reserve Bank of India for clearance. The term of M K Sharma, the current chairman of ICICI Bank, ends on June 30.

Speaking to ET NOW soon after his appointment, Chaturvedi said he was privileged to be a part of ICICI Bank. 

"(We) need to learn lessons and rectify past mistakes," Chaturvedi told the channel. 

"It is too early for me to chalk out a plan for ICICI Bank. I have not seen anything on ICICI Bank apart from what has appeared in papers," he added.

The appointment is effective July 1, 2018, for a period of three years, subject to the approval of shareholders, ICICI Bank said in a statement.

"The Board...approved the appointment of Girish Chandra Chaturvedi as non-executive part-time Chairman effective from July 1, 2018, or the date of receipt of RBI approval for such appointment whichever is later in the vacancy caused by cessation of term of M K Sharma (Independent Director & Chairman)," it said.

The appointment will provide maturity and sagacity to the deliberations of the board, it added.

This would also ensure a seamless and smooth transition of leadership at the board and would address stakeholder concerns in this behalf, it said.

"We affirm that Chaturvedi is not debarred from holding the office of Director by virtue of any order of Securities and Exchange Board of India or any other such authority," it added.  

The appointment of the new chairman comes at a time when ICICI Bank is battling one of its worst management crises. 

On June 18, Chanda Kochhar went on indefinite leave pending a probe against her. The bank appointed Sandeep Bakhshi as chief operating officer (COO).

In the wake of probes by government agencies and the market regulator, the board had appointed former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna to conduct an independent enquiry to investigate the allegations of impropriety against Kochhar. 

The bank is also preparing a reply to the show cause notice served by Sebi. Earlier this month, ICICI Bank and Kochhar had sought more time to respond to the notice and had requested the regulator to share documents on the basis of which the notice was served. The market regulator is said to have shared the documents early this week.

Sebi issued a 12-page show cause notice to the bank and Kochhar on May 23. The regulator, in its notice, raised questions over the code of conduct because Kochhar allegedly had not disclosed the conflict of interest arising out the of business dealings between ICICI Bank, Videocon, and NuPower Renewables, promoted by her husband Deepak. All listed companies and their key managerial staff are required to follow a code of conduct and comply with all securities norms.

On April 17, the regulator had initiated a preliminary enquiry into whether the bank’s board was aware of the conflict of interest and the stance of the independent directors when the board had approved the loan. Besides, the regulator sought an explanation on lapses in disclosures of business dealings involving Deepak Kochhar. In March, ICICI Bank’s board had given a clean chit to Kochhar without conducting a formal probe into allegations by a whistle-blower.  

The appointment is effective July 1, 2018, for a period of three years, subject to the approval of shareholders, ICICI Bank said in a statement.

"The Board...approved the appointment of Girish Chandra Chaturvedi as non-executive part-time Chairman effective from July 1, 2018, or the date of receipt of RBI approval for such appointment whichever is later in the vacancy caused by cessation of term of M K Sharma (Independent Director & Chairman)," it said.

The appointment will provide maturity and sagacity to the deliberations of the board, it added.

This would also ensure a seamless and smooth transition of leadership at the board and would address stakeholder concerns in this behalf, it said.

"We affirm that Chaturvedi is not debarred from holding the office of Director by virtue of any order of Securities and Exchange Board of India or any other such authority," it added.