YES Bank stock falls 15% as investors worry over HDIL, DHFL exposure

Indian lenders, including YES Bank, may have to wait longer for any debt resolution on their exposure to the beleaguered real estate company Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL), believe experts. This is due to serious charges of fraud and malfeasance faced by Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC Bank), which lent Rs 6,500 crore to HDIL and failed to recover its dues.

On Monday, YES Bank’s shares fell by 15 per cent to Rs 41.45 a share as investors worried over the bank’s exposure to both HDIL and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL).

According to a report by brokerage firm Jefferies, YES Bank had an exposure of Rs 3,700 crore to DHFL — which has also defaulted on its loans.

YES Bank, which had exposure to HDIL too, had sold a part of its loan to Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company, owned by Sudhir Valia, a co-promoter of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries.

In a statement, YES Bank said, “The bank’s outstanding exposure to the housing finance company and real estate conglomerate, which is in the news today, is secured and over the last six months there has been a reduction of approximately 30 per cent in this exposure.”

The account is standard and current, the bank added without elaborating.

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Bank of India has filed bankruptcy proceedings against the real estate company after it failed to repay its loans. While the National Company Law Tribunal admitted the case for bankruptcy proceedings, HDIL moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), challenging the order.

On September 26, NCLAT ordered the resolution professional to not constitute the committee of creditors for HDIL till it hears the case again on November 13.

In the past one year, HDIL was taking loans from PMC Bank and was repaying the public sector banks which moved the NCLT against the company. Last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed an administrator for PMC Bank after the bank management confessed to having lent Rs 6,500 crore, or 73 per cent, of its loan book to one customer. The exposure was not reported to the RBI and was hidden from the regulator during its annual inspections.