'How can retiral benefit be greater than pay?' | Congress slams ICICI denial on Buch

After ICICI Bank’s rebuttal of the Congress’s allegation that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch received Rs 16.8 crore from the bank as salary and other emoluments since 2017, more than five times her income from the market regulator, the party has come up with a fresh set of data to refute the bank’s claim.

“The ICICI Bank’s statement attempts to provide a response but, in reality, ends up giving more information and confirming our charges,” says the Congress document.

ICICI Bank said on Monday (September 2) that it has not paid any salary or granted ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plans) to Buch after her retirement on October 31, 2013, as alleged by the Congress. The bank claimed it only paid her the “retiral benefits” and she had “opted for superannuation with effect from October 31, 2013”.

Questions raised by Congress

However, the Congress has asked why Buch’s “retiral benefit” has been “non-uniform both in terms of its frequency and amount”. “Even if we were to assume that the Rs 5.03 crores she received from ICICI in 2014-2015 (soon after her superannuation) was part of her ‘retiral benefit’ and that she got nothing in 2015-2016, why did this so called ‘retiral benefit’ resume in 2016-2017 and continue until 2021?” the party asked.

The party also mentioned in the document that while the average salary drawn by Buch from 2007 to 2013-14, right before her superannuation from ICICI, was Rs 130 lakh per annum, her “retiral benefit” from 2016-17 to 2020-21 averages to around Rs 277 lakh per annum.

“How can a person’s ‘retiral benefit’ be more than her salary as an employee?” the party argued.

Queries regarding ESPO

The Congress has also raised an issue with the ESOP ICICI has publicly disclosed on its website as the only one owned by Buch. ICICI Bank has claimed that “employees, including retired employees, had the choice to exercise their ESOPs anytime up to a period of 10 years from the date of vesting”.

But the Congress has pointed out that for this particular policy, as stated on the US Securities Exchange Commission website, former employees can exercise their ESOPs within a maximum of three months following voluntary termination.

“Where is this ‘revised policy’ — under which Ms Madhabi P Buch was able to exercise ESOPs 8 years after voluntary termination of her services — officially documented?” the party has asked. It has also wondered why the “revised policy” hasn’t been made publicly available by the ICICI.

The question of TDS

The party has also asked why Buch was allowed to exercise ESOPs at a time when the company’s share price increased substantially, thereby benefitting her. “And strangely this benefit that accrued to her coincided with her tenure at SEBI. Wasn’t the market price beneficial to her?” the Congress document states.

The party has also asked whether the ESOPs given to Buch sourced from the Employees’ ESOPs Trust. “If so, isn’t this prejudicial to the interests of other employees of ICICI?” it stated.

Yet another question the party has raised is why the bank paid the TDS (tax deducted at source) on ESOPs on behalf of Buch. “Does it follow the same protocol for all its past and present employees?” it queried, adding why ICICI did not offer the TDS amount as Buch’s taxable income. “Is this not a clear non-compliance of the Income Tax Act?” the party remarked.