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After months of investigations, Chanda Kochhar has decided to step down as CEO and MD of ICICI Bank, which has been under scrutiny since March this year. “Her departure is the latest in a series of exits by top private bank chiefs after a regulatory push over the last few months,” notes The Indian Express.
Kochhar’s departure has been analysed along several lines by the media, her gender being at the forefront. Hindustan Times notes, “Kochhar is the third high-profile woman banker in India to step down in recent months, following Arundhati Bhattacharya who retired from the State Bank of India a year ago and Shikha Sharma who is set to exit after almost ten years atop Axis Bank in December.” The Times of India opens its report with, “Chanda Kochhar, who was consistently rated as one of the world’s most powerful women in business, has resigned from ICICI Bank following months of escalating controversy and amid multiple investigations.”
According to most newspapers, her departure was unexpected. The Times of India says, “While there was no clear answer on Thursday as to why she chose to finally throw in the towel now, there’s been a growing sense that the enquiry report might not give her the clean chit she would have hoped for.”
The bank has stated her exit will have no effect on the inquiry, which will proceed as planned. “ICICI Bank shares surge 6% as CEO Chanda Kochhar resigns” reads another Hindustan Times headline.
The bank’s COO, Sandeep Bakhshi, will replace Kochhar as CEO for five years, but the newspapers don’t dwell on this.
Meanwhile, the government has finally decided to take a proactive step to curb fuel prices. The Hindu reports, “The Centre has decided to effect a cumulative cut of Rs. 2.5 per litre on fuel prices, with the Centre absorbing Rs. 1.5 of this and the oil marketing companies Rs. 1.”
Going by The Indian Express’s headline, “After holding firm, government cuts fuel rates; markets crash as rupee weakens”, the move was underwhelming. “On Thursday, the rising price of crude, the falling rupee, and concerns over an impending rate hike caused Sensex, the benchmark index of the BSE, to fall 806 points, the biggest decline in almost eight months,” writes Hindustan Times.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reportedly said the government was committed to maintaining a fiscal deficit of 3.3%, and thus willing to absorb the Rs 10,000 crore cost of cutting excise duty. But the Express says, “A cut in excise duty on petroleum products will put a strain in central government finances unless it is followed by a commensurate reduction in expenditure.”
Two stories that found little space on the front page of Hindustan Times were not covered in other English dailies. The first one is about the upcoming polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, titled “Cong fabricated MP voter list, says EC; party hits back”. The EC accused the Congress of “mak(ing) a false claim of duplication of names.”
The second one is “India makes case for CAATSA, Iran sanction waivers”. Given this development lies at the intersection of rising fuel prices and India’s military talks with Russia, which made the front pages just a few days ago, its absence on front pages is odd.
The article says, “India is a fit case for a presidential waiver from the provisions of Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) on Russia and the sanctions on trade with Iran due to the legacy military relationship between New Delhi and Moscow, and a possible $6 per barrel rise in India’s oil import basket if the country cuts supplies from Tehran without compensation.”
Prime Time
Will Mahagathbandhan be successful in 2019?
Republic TV asked this on its debate Thursday. Mayawati announced party Wednesday that her Bahujan Samaj Party will fight assembly elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on its own, clearing speculations over alliance with the Congress. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the party will come to power in 2019 while Samajwadi Party spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi and Janata Dal (Secular) spokesperson Tanveer Ahmed said it won’t.
Trivedi said, “2014 was about Modi vs Rahul Gandhi and now 2019 will be about Modi vs ‘pehchaan kaun’.”
Gandhi said, “NDA will not make a comeback in 2019, some other front will come up.”
Ahmed added, “The people of India are against BJP, all the jumlas have failed. They will not get more than 150 seats.”
Is deportation of seven Rohingya Muslims a positive move?
India Today asked the question on its debate. In the first such move by the government, seven Rohingya Muslims, held at a detention centre in Assam, were handed over to Myanmar after the Supreme Court refused to stop their deportation Thursday. While the Muslim Political Council of India spokesperson T.A. Rehmani pointed out that there is no clear cut process of identifying illegal immigrants, Sambit Patra said the government is identifying the illegal immigrants in a systematic fashion.
Rehmani said, “How did the government identify who are the illegal immigrants and who are not. If they are illegal immigrants then why are they not living in detention camps.”
Patra said, “The government is identifying the illegal immigrants in a systematic way, but the states which do not have BJP government are providing shelter to the illegal immigrants.”
News it’s kinda cool to know
Participants in a trial by the BBC reported that their back pain disappeared after administering a small, blue pill given to them by a physician. But here’s the twist: The pill is just a placebo containing ground rice. “Among other things, research has shown that taking a placebo can trigger the release of endorphins — natural painkillers that are similar in structure to morphine,” writes BBC.
Ms Chanda Kochhar’s exit has nothing to do with her gender. It should not be viewed through that prism at all.