Chanda Kochhar's Icarus moment

Hyderabad: “I am here because of my hard work,” curtly declared Chanda Kochhar while speaking to this newspaper before she was chosen as the successor to legendary mentor K.V. Kamath in 2009. Her statement made when she was deputy MD of ICICI Bank exuded great confidence in herself and a classic no-nonsensical approach. After she became the CEO, these qualities set her from others and made her czarina of the banking sector.

The rise of Chanda Kochhar at ICICI and later at ICICI Bank has been meteoric that could inspire many a women in breaking the glass-ceiling at corporate boardrooms. However, the fall too has been abrupt and ignominious, which does not fit into her glorious career.  

Ms. Kochhar, a favourite of the then group chairman K.V. Kamath, joined ICICI, an infrastructure lender in its earlier avatar, as a management trainee in 1984 and rose to play an important part in its transformation into a retail-focused commercial bank in early 1990s.

She had compete with her colleagues like Shikha Sharma, Kalpana Morparia, and Renuka Ramnath to reach the position that she relinquished on Thursday after allegations of the bank’s borrowers helping her husband surfaced.

After Mr Kamath’s exit in 2009, she was appointed the MD and CEO of ICICI Bank despite having other equally strong contenders for the post. Her elevation also led to the exit of Shikha Sharma, who was senior to her in ranking from the group.

Before her elevation, she was a key member of the bank overseeing retail business and consolidated bank operations. While Mr Kamath faced many bank runs during his tenure, Ms Kochhar’s firm control on the bank prevent any such incidents, except for one. Soon she became a celebrity. She was ranked as one of the powerful women in the country.

In March 2018, she was accused of impropriety and conflict of interest, lack of disclosures and quid pro-quo. Initially, the allegations made by an unknown whistleblower were related to loans extended to now bankrupt Videocon and later Essar.

Though she initially enjoyed full backing of the board, she lost support especially with independent directors after the allegations increased and enforcement agencies started probe against her. When the situation got beyond her control, Ms Kochhar went on a leave in May suggesting that she would be back after the probe ended. 

But even while ICICI Bank said to be exploring a consent plea to settle the case, she decided to call quits drawing curtains on her role at ICICI Bank.