The Board of Directors of private sector lender ICICI Bank is understood to have stuck to discussing business plans on the second day of its meeting on Tuesday.
Government-nominee Director on the Board, Lok Ranjan, did not turn up for the meeting.
Ranjan, who is Joint Secretary in the Department of Financial Services, was also absent for Monday’s meet to approve the annual results of the bank.
Sources said the Board of Directors did not discuss the allegations of quid pro quo surrounding the bank’s Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and his company NuPower Renewables, and the ₹3,250-crore loan given to the Videocon Group in 2012.
‘Routine procedure’
Addressing reporters after the annual results on Monday, Kochhar had said the loan allegations were not discussed and that the board has already made its stance very clear on the issue.
She had also termed the second day of the board meeting as a “routine procedure” to discuss the strategy and the budget planning of the bank at the start of the financial year.
Sources said the government continues to keep a close watch on the developments at the lender, but does not want to get closely involved in the allegations and charges of misconduct.
“Investigative agencies, including the CBI and the Income Tax department, are already looking into the allegations,” said a person familiar with the development, pointing out that the Reserve Bank of India is also aware of the issues at hand.
ICICI Bank had posted a near 50 per cent drop in net profits in the fourth quarter of 2017-18 due to a spike in provisions for bad loans. It had also unveiled a Vision 2020 to address non-performing loans and growth opportunities in retail and digital lending.
On Tuesday, the bank’s scrip gained 6.86 per cent on the BSE to close at ₹309.25 apiece.