ICICI Bank Board on Friday approved the appointment of Girish Chandra Chaturvedi as its non-executive and part-time chairman for a period of three years and he would resume his duty effective from July 1, 2018. “This is to inform you that the Board of Directors of ICICI Bank at its meeting held today appointed Mr Girish Chandra Chaturvedi as an Additional (Independent) Director effective July 1, 2018 for a period of 3 years subject to the approval of shareholders,” ICICI Bank informed the stock exchanges on Friday.
The key appointment of board comes at a time when ICICI Bank is under the scanner of various regulatory agencies for alleged conflict of interest involving its CEO Chanda Kochhar and her family members in extending loans to some corporates, including the Videocon Group.
Chaturvedi, 65, will replace current chairman M K Sharma, whose term ends on June 30.
Chaturvedi retired as Oil Secretary in January 31, 2013 and had served in the Department of Financial Services — the administrative department of banking and insurance sector — for five years, including as Additional Secretary.
Commenting on his appointment, Chaturvedi said he is looking forward to taking up the new assignment but it was too early to say what his priorities or action plan for the bank would be. “I don’t subscribe to this that (ICICI Bank) is in a mess. Incidents keeping happening, we have to learn lessons from them, rectify them and move ahead. I am sure we will be able to do that,” he said.
Chaturvedi, an MSc in Physics and Social Policy from the london School of Economics, UK and holder of a doctorate in economic history from the University of Oxford, Chaturvedi has served on the boards of IDBI Bank, Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda as government nominee.
The board of ICICI Bank selected Chaturvedi from a shortlist of four, including some other IAS officers. Independent directors on the bank’s board Uday Chitale and Neelam Dhawan too were considered. “The appointment will provide maturity and sagacity to the deliberations of the board,” the statement added.
