In India’s ‘bhai-bhatija’ firms, related party transactions are the norm

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Editor's note: A committee headed by the chief executive of a large bank sanctions a loan to a large company. Nothing unusual about it. A day after the loan is sanctioned, the large company transfers an amount equal to 20% of the loan to a small company belonging to the husband of the CEO of the large bank. Surely, eyebrows must go up.  Last fortnight though, the adjudicating authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act appeared to give a clean chit to the said CEO, former ICICI Bank boss Chanda Kochhar, in the charge related to a Rs 300-crore loan given to Videocon International Electronics, stating that the loan was in line with the bank’s credit policy and earlier practices. Besides, the loan was repaid to ICICI Bank. As for the Rs 64 crore investment by Videocon promoter Venugopal Dhoot in Nupower Renewables, managed by Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar, the adjudicating authority said that it was a “genuine business investment contemplated much ahead in time of sanction of the loan”.  It’s another instance of differing interpretations of related party transactions …