But the saga raises troubling questions of corporate governance at the country’s largest private bank. Earlier, an internal audit of the bank’s marketing division for 2024-25 had marked out these payments, while rating the division’s performance as “unsatisfactory”. The investigation revealed this amount was the interest paid over the specified interest rate on deposits. While there is fierce competition among banks to attract deposits, the RBI’s master directions on interest rates do not allow for rates to be negotiated between the parties. This “differential interest” was not routed directly into the corporation’s account as interest earned, but was channelled through the bank’s marketing department, dressed up as contribution to awareness campaigns.