Daybreak - How Chanda Kochhar was found guilty

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

On July 22, 2025, a court found former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar guilty of accepting a ₹64 crore bribe from Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot. The bribe was allegedly routed through her husband’s company, NuPower Renewables, just a day after ICICI sanctioned a ₹300 crore loan to Videocon in 2009.In today's episode, we trace the complete timeline, from the first whistleblower alert in 2016 to the 11,000-page CBI chargesheet and the 2022 arrests of the Kochhars. We also look at how internal governance failures and unchecked conflicts of interest allowed this to unfold inside one of India’s largest private banks.Tune in.🎓 Are you an Indian student in the US or recently graduated? Tell us what your journey’s been like: Take the surveyDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me. My interruptions, my analogies and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too. It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Raman Ganeshan, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

We want to tell the secret sauce stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture, how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing, and extensive post-production.

Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording. Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get an alert as soon as we release our first episode, please follow Intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. Today's story would actually make a great financial thriller. It is a tale that shocked the corporate world in India and even after years,

it's still sending ripples through India's banking sector. Now, imagine a woman. She's at the pinnacle of her power. She's celebrated globally. She's been on magazine cover. She's won awards. And she is leading one of India's biggest private banks. Chandha Kocher was for many a trailblazer in the corporate and finance world.

And the bank that she helped set up in the 1990s, ICICI, became a household name that was trusted by millions. So in 2016, when rumors and chatter started doing. rounds about conflicts of interest and shady dealings at the very top, it felt hard to believe. How could someone so respected, so hardworking, be involved in something so messy? Or maybe she was being targeted because she's a woman. Soon after though, these initial reports were brushed aside. A quick internal inquiry was set up and it seemed to clear her name. But the truth, as it often does, had a way of refusing to stay buried.

The allegations came back and they were left. louder this time. And now, just this week, in fact, on July 22nd, after years of investigation, arrests and legal battles, a court order finally delivered a verdict. Chanda Kocher has been found guilty, guilty of receiving 64 crore rupees as bribe. And this was not some minor transgression. This was allegedly a direct exchange for sanctioning a massive 300-crow-rupe loan to the video. This case is a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities in our financial systems. And it reminds us of the immense cost that has to be paid when the trust that is placed in our institutions is eroded.

So how did this story that has been on the slow burn for so long reach this explosive conclusion? And what does this all mean for the future of corporate governance in India? Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken. I'm your host, Nigda Sharma, and I don't chase the new. cycle. Instead, every day of the week, my colleague Rahal Philipos and I will come to you with one business story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Thursday, the 24th of July. How did it all begin? The first hint that something was not quite right surfaced back in 2016.

A man called Arvin Gupta, a shareholder, meaning somebody who literally owned pieces of both VideoCon Group and ICASA Bank, noticed something strange. He raised red flags, about potential conflicts of interest, and they were all specifically pointing to transactions between these two corporate giants. He highlighted ties between Chanda Kocher's husband, Deepa Kocher and the head of Videocon, Venugopal Dhut. Now, here is where it gets really interesting. I-CASA Bank did launch an initial investigation, and the outcome was that Chanda Kocher was given a clean shit. But of course, now there are many questions about how. thoroughly this first investigation was really conducted and was there an effort to protect

the bank star CEO. However, life went on for a bit. But then in 2017, a financial storm gathered again. Those very loans that ICICA Bank had given to VideoCon started to turn bad. They were officially reclassified as non-performing assets or NPAs. In simple terms, VideoCon was not paying ICICA back, which was a clear sign. of trouble brewing. And then came March 2018. The chatter started again, but this time they were not just whispers. An anonymous whistleblower stepped forward. This individual's allegations were so

serious that ICICI Bank could not ignore them. They were forced to launch another investigation. And this time, it was an external probe, which was led by retired Supreme Court Justice B.N. Sri-Krishna. The gravity of the situation was undeniable. Chandra Koccher was placed on an indefinite leave and the pressure was immense. So, not very long after this, a few months later, Justice Sri Krishna's inquiry concluded its findings. And the verdict for Chanda Koujur was damning. She had violated the bank's strict code of conduct.

Specifically, there were clear conflicts of interest. She had failed to disclose them and she had not recused herself from critical decisions when she should have. The result was that Chanda Kocer was forced to step down. as the managing director and CEO. An abrupt and shocking end to an illustrious career. The core of the allegations was quite stuck. She was accused of directly influencing approvals of six high-value loans

given to various Videocon-owned companies. These transactions, which happened between 2009 and 2011, allegedly broke ICICI Bank's own policies. And the sure scale of it will shock you. The total amount disbursed in these specific loans was a staggering 1875 crore rupees. Now, you might have seen other figures like 3,250 crores mentioned in some reports, but that larger number is generally referring to the overall credit facilities sanctioned to VideoCon by ICSA Bank. But the 1875 crore rupees specifically highlights those key loans directly linked to Cochers' alleged influence

and the core of the fraud case. Clearly, the game had changed. In January 2019, the CBI or the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's premier investigative agency stepped in. They registered an FIR and the names on that report were Chanda Kocher, her husband Deepak coacher and videocon's Venugopal Dhut. And the charges were criminal conspiracy, cheating and misuse of official position. This was no longer just an internal bank matter.

It was a full-blown criminal national investigation. More on this in the next segment. The CBI investigation continued, so did the legal battle. But in December 2020, the CBI made a decisive move. They arrested the Cochers. This was a part of the ongoing broader investigation into the alleged fraudulent loan dispersals during Chandha Kocher's time at the top. Venu Gopal Dood, the videocon promoter, was also arrested around the same time.

And this was actually when the scale of this conspiracy became clearer. By March 2023, the CBI had assembled its evidence. They filed a tomb of a charge sheet, 11,000 pages. It laid out the accusations against the coachers and dhut, charging them with corruption in a wider 3,250-crow loan fraud case. And a particularly damning detail emerged, the CBI alleged that in October 2016, a flat in Mumbai's Churchgate, which is a prime location, was transferred to a family trust managed by deeper coacher for just 11 lakh rupees.

Actually, the same flat had been valued at 5.5 crores way back in 1996. So, after some time in custody, in September 2023, the coaches were granted bail. They were out, but the legal sword was still hanging heavy over them. And the case continued at slow, deliberate march through the courts. And then, just last year in November, the Bombay High Court weighed in. In a response to a plea from the cochers, citing their status as senior citizens, the court instructed the serious fraud investigation office or SFIO to avoid any coercive measures against Chanda Cocher.

They also mandated that any questioning that she underwent should happen strictly within standard working hours. This offered the cocher some relief, but the investigations and the pressure remained. And that brings us to this week, July 22nd, 2025. The news broke that a court order dated July 3rd had officially found former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kocher guilty of accepting 64 crore rupees as bribe. This appellate tribunal observed that she took this bribe through her husband Deepa Kocher and a company linked to the videocon group. The timing, the mechanics of all of this are critical. In 2009, a day after a 300 crore rupee term loan was sanctioned to the videocon group,

Venu Gopal Dhut allegedly transferred 64 crores directly from the funds received to New Power Renewables Limited, which was a company where Deepak Kocher held significant control. The court also specifically noted that the approval of the 300-crow-ru-ru-ru-r loan with Chanda-Cocher on the committee was a direct violation of ICICA Bank's own policy. Of course, the defence had always had its arguments. During Deepak Cocher's bail plea, his lawyer stated that VideoCon had been a long-standing client of ICICI Bank since 1985. They argued that the bank had extended numerous loans over decades as a part of a normal business relationship. They also tried to explain Videocon's investment in Deepa Cocher's

company New Power Renewables as a legitimate equity investment expecting returns from capital appreciation as the company grew. But actually, the recent court verdict cuts through all of these arguments and gives a kind of a judicial stamp on the alleged quid pro quo. More importantly, this case now finally yielding a guilty verdict highlights some of the deeply troubling issues for India as a whole. It tells us about the excruciatingly slow pace of our judiciary. It also shows how early internal investigations can fail and sometimes they end up protecting powerful people. And this makes us question how well corporate rules are working in our country. When a celebrated figure like Chandha Kocher with all her global accolades is found guilty of such an act,

It doesn't just damage her reputation, but it also chips away the trust in our banking institutions. It can actually even hurt India's image on the global stage, especially among foreign investors. As for ICICI Bank itself, this long-running saga could actually open the door to some serious class action lawsuits. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken, India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-undi offerings. A full subscription unlocks daily long-form feature stories, newsletters and podcast extras. To subscribe, head to the ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on top of the Ken website. Today's episode was hosted by Sniktha Sharma and edited by Rajiv Seale.