Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch’s Case: How Can Retirement Benefits Exceed Salary? Asks Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday questioned how Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch’s retirement benefits from her stint at the ICICI Group were more than the salary she drew.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Congress leader Pawan Khera said, “How can the retirement benefits be more than the salary she drew when she was with ICICI? Her average annual salary at ICICI was Rs 1.30 crore. However, her average pension and other retiral benefits turned out to be Rs 2.77 crore. How is it even possible?”

Khera also claimed a break in the retiral benefits drawn by Buch in 2015-16, which resumed in 2016-17 when she joined Sebi as a whole-time member. “There is a particular year which shows no salary (drawn by Buch). This technically ended her relationship with ICICI. But when she became a whole-time member of Sebi, this relationship resumed,” Khera said.

“We now want to demand the Sebi to come out clean and respond to our charges,” he added.

Earlier on Monday, the Congress had accused Madhabi Puri Buch of a conflict of interest, alleging that she was drawing regular income from ICICI Bank while being a whole-time member of Sebi.

Notably, Madhabi Buch was a whole-time member of Sebi from April 5, 2017, to October 4, 2021, before she assumed the role of Sebi Chairperson in March 2022. Buch, who started her career in 1989 with ICICI Bank, served as the CEO of ICICI Securities from February 2009 to May 2011.

Rebutting the allegations by the Congress, the ICICI Bank released a statement on the same day. The bank said that Buch had not been paid any salary or granted any ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plans) by the bank or its group companies after her retirement, other than her retirement benefits.

In its statement, the ICICI Bank said that as per its ESOPs rules, employees, including retired employees, had the choice to exercise their ESOPs anytime up to 10 years from the date of vesting.

On this, Pawan Khera said, “ICICI says that our employees and retired employees have the choice to exercise their ESOPs. ICICI has written on an American website that if one resigns from ICICI Bank, then ESOPs can be exercised within three months of the resignation. But Madhabi Buch ji is still running ESOPs even after 8 years of resigning. Why does not every ICICI employee get this kind of benefit?”

Khera further questioned why ICICI paid TDS on ESOPs on behalf of Madhabi Puri Buch.

“Now the question is whether such a policy is applicable to all officers/employees of ICICI. But if ICICI pays TDS on ESOP on behalf of Madhabi Puri Buch, then should it not be counted in the income of Madhabi Puri Buch? If it is in the income, then tax should be paid, so why did ICICI not show this TDS amount in Taxable Income? This is a violation of the Income Tax Act,” he said