Mumbai : ICICI Bank granted loans worth Rs 650 crore to one of the five companies in the Videocon group — Evans Fraser & Company India Ltd, which had net sales of just Rs 75 crore in 2011 and a net profit of Rs 94 lakh, according to data from the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Evans Fraser & Company alone in the Videocon Group received a loan close to nine times its total sale. The RoC document showed that Evans Fraser & Company runs a realty business alongside a share trading business (shares and securities). Venugopal Dhoot had earlier denied any rule violation in his dealing with Deepak Kochhar or ICICI Bank. But the profile of the company ICICI Bank lent to raises a larger question, did the bank provide a loan that was nine times higher than a company’s turnover, risking its prospects of getting the money back? At a larger level, this also throws light into the way banks lend to their corporate clients. ICICI later declared loans to Videocon Group as a non-performing assets (NPAs).
ICICI Bank provided loans not just to Videocon itself but to various group of companies, namely Trend Electronics Ltd, Century Appliances Ltd, Kail Ltd, Value Industries Ltd, Evans Fraser & Company India Ltd.
Most of these loans have been termed as NPAs, according to whistle-blower Arvind Gupta’s letter. Going by this, the sanctioning date of all these five loans is 30 April, 2012 and the loan amount to each of these firms is Rs 650 crore, taking the total to Rs 3,250 crore.
I-T issues notice to Deepak Kochhar
NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department has issued a notice to Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, in connection with its tax evasion probe in the Videocon bank loan case, officials said. They said the notice has been issued to Deepak Kochhar under section 131 (power regarding discovery, production of evidence) of the I-T Act and he has been asked to furnish details of his personal finances, Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the last few years and business transactions with the firm NuPower Renewables. The department, the officials said, has launched a probe into the finances of the company and those associated with it.
Whistleblower seeks disclose on NuPower shareholder’s real identity
New Delhi : NuPower Renewables — the company founded by ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar — must disclose the real identity of its majority shareholder DH Renewables Holding of Mauritius, whistle-blower Arvind Gupta has demanded, alleging masked share transfers.
Videocon chief Venugopal Dhoot is said to have invested in NuPower Renewables and extended Rs 64-crore loan after Videocon secured a loan from a consortium of banks that included ICICI. Gupta alleged that NuPower Renewables was a 50:50 JV of Deepak Virendra Kochhar and Dhoots when founded in 2008. Subsequently, “masked” share transfers were done to a trust called Pinnacle Energy, whose trustee is Deepak Kochhar, after Chanda Kochhar became the MD and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank in May 2009.
