Mumbai: ICICI Bank has voted in favour of Chanda Kochhar's re-appointment as a director in its arm ICICI Securities. The country's largest private sector bank holds over 79 per cent in ICICI Securities.

ICICI Securities held its annual general meeting here on Thursday and one of the items that shareholders had to vote on, was the re-appointment of Kochhar.

The ICICI Bank CEO is on leave till the completion of an inquiry into a whistleblower's allegations of conflict of interest related to loans to a couple of borrowers.

In June, the bank had named Sandeep Bakhshi as its whole-time director and chief operating officer (COO) for a five-year tenure.

It had also appointed Justice B.N. Srikrishna, a retired Supreme Court judge, to investigate complaints that Kochhar had violated the bank's code of conduct and was involved in quid pro quo transactions with some borrowers.

The bank and Kochhar have also received a notice from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) asking them to respond on matters relating to alleged non-compliance with certain provisions of the erstwhile listing agreement and the Sebi (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015.

The private sector lender had also received another whistleblower complaint that pointed to irregularities in the conduct of a few accounts, leading to incorrect asset classification apart from overvaluation of security for corporate loans.

While the results of the voting at the AGM will be known in a day or two, sources said the private sector bank voted in favour of Kochhar's re-appointment.

Kochhar is the chairperson of ICICI Securities. The vote from ICICI Bank clinches her position as a director in the securities firm.

Corporate governance experts, however, questioned the rationale of the private sector bank.

"It sends a mixed signal to investors. On one hand, they have sent her on leave at ICICI Bank and on the other, the bank has voted in favour of the resolution at ICICI Securities,'' Sriram Subramanian, founder at InGovern, a corporate governance research and advisory firm, told The Telegraph.

Ahead of the meeting, proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory (IiAS) had asked shareholders of ICICI Securities to vote against the resolution relating to the re-appointment of Kochhar on the board of the company.

IiAS quoted a recent filing by ICICI Bank to SEC where the bank had pointed towards the possibility of increased regulatory scrutiny and reputational risks from the recent development.

"Her presence on the board of ICICI Securities, while legally compliant, exposes the company to the same risks and the possibility of legal and regulatory sanctions. We believe she should be reappointed on the board only after all the charges against her have been cleared,'' a report from the firm had said.

However, there were other firms such as Shareholder Empowerment Services (SES) that were in favour of her appointment, since the allegations against Kochhar have not yet been confirmed.

Meanwhile, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company has sold a 2.05 per cent stake, or over 52 lakh shares, in Tata Chemicals through open market transactions.

After the sale of these shares, the insurance firm's stake in Tata Chemicals has come down to 2.97 per cent from 5.02 per cent, according to a regulatory filing.