Crisis-Hit Yes Bank Added Over 90% of Bad Loans During First Nine Months of Current Fiscal

Over 90 per cent of the gross bad loans in the books of troubled Yes Bank were added during the first nine months of the current fiscal, with sour debt swelling by Rs 36,763.76 crore during April-December 2019.

Yes Bank last week posted the highest-ever loss reported by any private sector bank at Rs 18,560 crore for the third quarter of 2019-20, as huge provisioning for bad loans hit profitability.

The bank's gross bad loans by the end of the December quarter swelled to a staggering Rs 40,709.20 crore.

The bank made provisioning of Rs 29,594 crore for these bad assets.

At the beginning of the fiscal on April 1, the bank's opening balance of gross NPAs stood at Rs 7,882.56 crore, as per the bank's 'Disclosures under the Basel III Capital Regulations'.

Fresh bad loan additions soared Rs 36,763.76 crore during April-December 2019.

Recoveries of sour assets were at a meagre Rs 3,937.12 crore during the period.

Yes Bank's CEO-designate Prashant Kumar has said the private sector lender will continue to feel pressure from its bad assets in the next fiscal year as well.

Of the gross bad loans on the books of Yes Bank at end of December 2019, the bulk of loans -- Rs 30,447.97 crore -- were categorised as sub-standard, meaning the payments towards principal and interest remained irregular or overdue for more than 90 days and were classified as bad for a period of 12 months from the date of NPA classification.

Loans of over Rs 9,300 crore were in the doubtful category, with Rs 7,904.49 crore falling into 'doubtful 1' list, Rs 829.07 crore 'doubtful 2' and Rs 573.75 crore classified as 'doubtful 3'.

Doubtful assets are bad loans that remain sub-standard for a period of more than 12 months.

The rest Rs 953.92 crore loans were in the 'loss' category. Loss category loans are identified as uncollectible, considered to be of little value as their continuance as a bankable asset is not warranted even if there may be some salvage or recovery value.

Standard assets are the performing assets/loans wherein the principal and interest payments are regular.

The bank witnessed withdrawals of over Rs 72,000 crore of deposits in the last six months.

The Reserve Bank had on March 5 superseded the board of Yes Bank due to its poor financial health and restricted withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account.