Recently, CBI arrested former ICICI Bank’s MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar along with Videocon Group’s founder Mr. Venugopal Dhoot in a ICICI Bank loan fraud case. CBI is investigating into Rs 3000 cr. Worth of load given by ICICI Bank to Videocon group where most of these loan has become NPA (Non-performing Asset) in the books of the bank, approx. 1700 cr of those. CBI suspects that these loans were issued without doing proper due diligence & using power of position by Banks former MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar & also involving her husband Deepak Kochhar.
Mr. Venugopal Dhoot founded Videocon in the year 1984, before this they were having dealership of Bajaj Auto’s Scooters Business. Venugopal Dhoot is the eldest son of late Sri Nandlal Madhavlal Dhoot. Since childhood Venugopal was very ambitious and he had taken Videocon into manufacturing of colour Television (TV) after the 1983 men’s cricket world cup win by India under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. Overnight demand of television has jumped multifold. Videocon seized this opportunity and started manufacturing and supply of colour TV to many Indian homes. They were the market leader in India and among top TV supplier in many other countries. Videocon was main competitor of Samsung & LG. Videocon purchased stakes in Phillips TV business.
Videocon also started manufacturing and supply of other household items like Refrigerators, Washing machine, Air Conditioner, Music System and many other home appliances. They invested heavily in marketing with Bollywood starts and business was very successful.
This was the time when Venugopal Dhoot ventured into other unrelated business like Telecom, Oil & Gas, and Energy Distribution etc. Lots of money was invested into these businesses from Videocon side and also by borrowings from Banks. Most of these businesses filed to give returns as anticipated. This resulted into defaults of loan from Videocon to financial institutions.
Subsequent enquiry from CBI into loan fraud case and then recent arrest of key management team tells the story of how Videocon Group falls from the Top. It was once India’s one of the top most brand.
