Nippon India Mutual Fund marks down its investment in Yes Bank to zero

Nippon India Mutual Fund on Friday said it has marked down the value of its investments to zero in bonds issued by troubled private sector lender Yes Bank.

In addition, the fund house has imposed a limit of Rs 2 lakh on fresh inflows into the impacted schemes till further notice, Nippon India MF said in a statement.

This limit is imposed only on the new applications, switch-ins, systematic transfer plans and systematic investment plans received after March 5, it said.

The announcement came hours after Yes Bank was placed under a moratorium, with the Reserve Bank capping deposit withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account for a month and superseding its board. The central bank's action came after the bank failed to raise capital to address potential loan losses.

"Perpetual bonds of Yes Bank in the schemes of Nippon India MF have been marked down to zero," the fund house said.

"While Yes Bank has been marked down to zero, no segregation has been done. Segregation/side pocketing is only allowed on happening of Sebi defined triggers," the fund house spokesperson said.

Nippon India Mutual Fund said it will review this decision on regular basis and take appropriate actions as clarity emerges on this matter.

"A limit on new applications, switch-ins, systematic transfer plans, systematic investment plans will help ensure that once clarity emerges, the interest of existing unitholders has not been significantly diluted in the interim through additional purchase activity while limiting the inconvenience to retail unitholders," the statement said.

"We continue to remain engaged with Yes Bank and closely monitor the developments in this matter," it added.

Schemes such as Nippon India Hybrid Bond Fund, Nippon India Credit Risk Fund, Nippon India Equity Hybrid Fund, Nippon India Strategic Debt Fund, Nippon India Retirement Fund- Wealth Creation and Nippon India Equity Savings Fund invested in perpetual bonds of the bank.

Earlier, many asset management companies have asked their clients, who have bank accounts with the troubled lender, to furnish details of alternate accounts for receiving redemption payouts.

The RBI, in a notification, on Thursday said the financial position of Yes Bank has undergone a steady decline largely due to inability of the bank to raise capital to address potential loan losses and resultant downgrades, triggering invocation of bond covenants by investors, and withdrawal of deposits.

The bank has also experienced serious governance issues and practices in recent years which have led to steady decline of the bank, it added. The central bank has appointed SBI's former CFO Prashant Kumar as an administrator.