According to Morning Context, Sandeep Bakhshi had indicated that he wanted to be removed as CEO and managing director of ICICI Bank due to a personal emergency. But the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has opposed his resignation.
ICICI Bank on Thursday denied reports that its CEO and MD Sandeep Bakhshi wanted to resign from his post. The lender, which termed the report in The Morning Context as “baseless” and a “figment of imagination”, categorically denied the information published in the article.
“We categorically deny the information published in the article about the CEO of ICICI Bank stating that he wants to resign from his position for personal reasons. This information is a figment of imagination and is therefore completely unfounded and misleading,” ICICI Bank said in an official statement on 2 May.
The Morning Context report claimed that Sandeep Bakhshi had indicated that he wanted to be relieved of his duties as managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank for personal reasons. But the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has opposed his dismissal.
“It appears that this rumour is being spread with ulterior motives and ill intentions to harm the bank and its shareholders,” the ICICI Bank statement added.
Last week, ICICI Bank, India’s second largest private lender, reported strong profit figures for the quarter ended March 2024. ICICI Bank’s share price also rose to all-time highs, with a market capitalisation of over ₹8 lakh crore for the first time.
ICICI Bank posted a standalone net profit of JPY 10,707.5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004, up 17.4 per cent from JPY 9,121.9 million in the same period last year. The lender recorded an 8% growth in net interest income (NII) to ₹19,092.8 crore from ₹17,666.8 crore, year on year.
The bank achieved a return on assets (RoA) of 2.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and return on equity (RoE) of 18.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, another private lender, Kotak Mahindra Bank, came under heavy selling pressure on Thursday following the resignation with immediate effect of its deputy managing director, KVS Manian. Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank fell more than 4 per cent to a 52-week low.
KVS Manian, recently promoted to deputy managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, resigned from the bank after 29 years.
Analysts believe Manian’s departure, along with that of other key executives over the past year, is negative in the context of the recent Reserve Bank of India ban on Kotak Bank.
At 11:55 a.m., ICICI Bank shares were trading 1.26 per cent down at JPY 1,137.50 each on the BSE.
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