ICICI Bank says it did not have any exposure to Nirav Modi group of companie
NEW DELHI:
ICICI Bank does not have any exposure to Nirav Modi group of companies but was working capital lenders to the Gitanjali group of companies along with several other banks in the consortium, the bank has said in a statement.
The statement comes after the Central Bureau of Investigation said it had questioned former Punjab National Bank (PNB) Managing Director Usha Ananthasubramanian, who is currently Allahabad Bank CEO, and ICICI Bank Executive Director NS Kanan as part of its probe into diamond trader Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others in connection with a multi-crore bank fraud.
Mr Kanan was questioned because ICICI Bank leads a consortium of 31 banks that lent money to Mehul Choksi's Gitanjali Group, CBI officials said, emphasising that the senior official of ICICI Bank, which lent Rs 773 crore to Gitanjali in 2016, is only being questioned for clarifications and not as an accused in the fraud case.
The bank statement underlined that its exposure to these companies was limited.
"We have not issued any Letter of Undertaking (LOU) nor do we have any buyer's credit exposure against LOUs with respect to the Nirav Modi group of companies as well as the Gitanjali group of companies," it said.
ICICI Bank, which is the lead banker to Gitanjali Group loans said, "We are working capital lenders to the Gitanjali group of companies along with several other banks in the consortium."