ICICI Bank’s clarification on Sebi Chief’s salary raises more questions: Congress

Responding to ICICI Bank’s statement concerning payments made to Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch, the Congress on Tuesday claimed that the bank’s clarification raised more questions than it answered. Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Pawan Khera pointed out that Puri Buch retired from ICICI Bank in 2013 and she was provided ₹5.03 crore. He said, assuming this was her retirement due which was settled in 201415, how come the pension started again in 201617 when Buch became a fulltime member of Sebi. He said she was not given anything by the bank in 201516.

Terming PuriBuch’s pension as “miracle pension”, Khera pointed out that she was paid a pension more than double her salary. He pointed out that the average annual salary of Puri Buch was ₹1.3 crore, while her average annual pension amounted to ₹2.77 crore. Khera demanded ICICI and Puri Buch to explain why her pension restarted in 2017, which coincided with her becoming a fulltime Sebi member.

ICICI Bank issued a clarification via a notice to the stock exchange, asserting that the payments made to Buch after her exit from the bank were purely retirement benefits, not salary or employee stock options. The Congress leader countered ICICI’s clarification that employees, including retired ones, had the option to exercise Esops up to ten years postvesting. Citing ICICI’s publicly disclosed Esop policy, which allows former employees to exercise their options within a maximum of three months posttermination, Khera asked, “Where is this ‘revised policy’ under which Madhabi Puri Buch was able to exercise Esops eight years after her voluntary termination?”

Khera also raised concerns about ICICI Bank paying the TDS on Buch’s Esops on her behalf. He questioned whether this protocol is followed for all employees or if Buch received preferential treatment.