THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - June 20, 2018 - Topic 2
The board of ICICI Bank has finally acted on the
allegations of misconduct against its CEO and managing director, Chanda Kochhar. It had earlier
maintained that she was on annual personal leave; now, she will stay away from
the office till the completion of an inquiry into the charges levelled against
her by a whistle-blower. Rather than allow the controversy to fester, the board
of ICICI Bank, an institution that often sought to hold a mirror up to the
inefficiencies of public sector banks, should have acted earlier.
Till the
inquiry is complete the bank will be steered by a new chief operating officer,
Sandeep Bakhshi. The official version is that he will report to Ms. Kochhar,
who herself took the decision to go on leave till the end of the inquiry — but
this is at best a face-saving cover for a board that was reluctant to act since
the controversy broke. Meanwhile, the tenure of M.K. Sharma, the chairman of
the bank’s board, is set to end this month and there is still no clarity on his
successor. This extended uncertainty in a crisis situation is unwarranted.
ICICI Bank’s troubles are rooted in a 2016 complaint by an investor alleging
a quid pro quo deal between Ms. Kochhar’s immediate family members
and the Videocon group, which got a ₹3,250-crore
loan from it. When this ‘conflict of interest’ complaint resurfaced in the
public domain this year, Mr. Sharma said he had personally inquired into it two
years earlier and found nothing amiss.
With the Central Bureau of Investigation and
later the stock market regulator SEBI swooping in, the issue of whether the
bank had failed to make adequate disclosures about its dealings with the borrower
(who is now a defaulter) and a firm related to Ms. Kochhar’s husband was
spotlighted. The bank is yet to respond to SEBI, but changed tack after the
latter decided to launch a probe into allegations of a quid pro
quo and alleged misconduct by Ms. Kochhar. Three weeks on, the names of
the members of and terms of reference for the probe panel to be led by retired
Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna are still awaited. It is debatable whether
such a high-profile panel is required to ascertain if Ms. Kochhar, whose term
ends next March, had made adequate disclosures while deciding on the loans. The
board itself could have dealt with this through an internal investigation
rather than giving the impression that it wanted to paper over the issue,
sending a poor signal to all stakeholders. No doubt Ms. Kochhar, a star on the
corporate firmament, enjoys a formidable reputation as a banker. While one
should not prejudge the inquiry findings, there is no doubt that the strength
of corporate governance practices in the bank has come under question because
of the way the issue has played out.
Vocabulary
Allegation: a
claim or assertion that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically
one made without proof.
Example: He
made allegations of corruption against the administration
Synonyms: claim, assertion, charge, accusation, declaration, statement, contention
Whistle-blower: a
person who informs on a person or organization engaged in an illicit activity.
Example: Nurses
also may not report other nurses for fear of being perceived as snitches or
labeled as whistle-blowers
Controversy: disagreement,
typically when prolonged, public, and heated.
Example: He
sometimes caused controversy because of his forceful views
Synonyms: disagreement, dispute, argument, debate, dissension, contention
Reluctant: unwilling
and hesitant; disinclined.
Example: She
seemed reluctant to discuss the matter
Synonyms: unwilling, disinclined, unenthusiastic, resistant, resisting, opposed
Crisis: a
time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.
Example: The
current economic crisis
Synonyms: emergency, disaster, catastrophe, calamity, predicament
Resurface: put
a new coating on or reform a surface such as a road, a floor, or ice
Example: Construction
to rebuild and resurface the road has reached Phase Two.
Adequate: satisfactory
or acceptable in quality or quantity.
Example: This
office is perfectly adequate for my needs
Synonyms: sufficient, enough, requisite; acceptable, passable, reasonable
Disclosure: the
action of making new or secret information known.
Example: A
judge ordered the disclosure of the government documents
Synonyms: revelation, declaration, announcement, news, report, leak
Impression: an
imitation of a person or thing, especially one done to entertain.
Example: He
did an impression of Frank Sinatra
Synonyms: impersonation, imitation, parody, caricature, burlesque, travesty
