Meet Sandeep Bakhshi, the new CEO of ICICI Bank

A seasoned banker with over 30 years of experience, Bakhshi is a mechanical engineer from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.

He has a post-graduate degree in management from Xavier Labour Relations Institute.

ICICI Bank on Thursday elevated its chief operating officer Sandeep Bakhshi, bottom, left, as managing director and CEO in place of Chanda Kochhar who quit after a nine-year stint as the head of the bank.

"The board of directors of ICICI Bank accepted the request of Chanda Kochhar to seek early retirement from the bank at the earliest. The board decided to appoint Sandeep Bakhshi as managing director & chief executive officer," the bank said in a statement.

He has been appointed for a period of five years till October 3, 2023.

Bakhshi, 58, was appointed as the wholetime director and chief operating officer for five years effective from June 2018, who was earlier associated with ICICI group insurance firm ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co Ltd as managing director & CEO.

He was brought to the bank for a smooth functioning as Kochhar was forced to go on an indefinite leave since June pending an external enquiry instituted by the country's largest private sector bank on allegations of favouring in family members in granting loans to a few corporate houses.

Kochhar, 57, had begun her career with the erstwhile ICICI Limited in 1984.

She was conferred with the Padma Bhushan in 2011 and also featured in the World's 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes.

Bakhshi had joined the ICICI group on December 1, 1986, in the project financing division and was responsible for wholesale banking & small and medium enterprises business.

He was appointed managing director & CEO of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company on April 2002 and was instrumental in scaling up the private sector general insurance offerings in the country.

He also remained as the deputy managing director and had handled both the retail and corporate banking business of ICICI Bank from May 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010.

And further, appointed as the managing director & CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company from August 1, 2010.

A seasoned banker with over 30 years of experience, Bakhshi is a mechanical engineer from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.

He has a post-graduate degree in management from Xavier Labour Relations Institute.

Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters