Yes Bank has repaid the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Rs 35,000 crores out of the Rs 50,000 crores of Special Liquidity Facility (SLF) that was extended to the bank to make up for any shortfall in deposits during the crisis in March this year.

“The Bank has, as of date repaid Rs 35,000 crore of SLF and the balance (Rs 15,000 crores) will be repaid within the timelines set by RBI,” the bank’s Chairman Sunil Mehta noted in his message to shareholders.

RBI had first provided Yes Bank with the special liquidity window immediately when it was coming out of the moratorium imposed on it after the board was superseded in March this year. The SLF window was given for 3 months to ensure that the bank was covered for any large deposit withdrawals. It was later extended for another three months until mid-September, according to people in the know.

In his message to shareholders published in the bank’s annual report, Mehta said, “The Bank’s new Board had just embarked implementing the reconstruction scheme during difficult market conditions, when the COVID-19 situation erupted and swept across the world, forcing governments to impose nationwide lockdowns. This created an additional complexity to an existing difficult situation which the Bank faced on account of its legacy issues and its liquidity situation pre-implementation of the reconstruction scheme.”

He added that the new board led by CEO Prashant Kumar was able to restore customer and depositor confidence after the RBI-imposed moratorium was lifted. “In addition to the Special Liquidity Facility (SLF) of Rs 50,000 crore extended by RBI, the Bank has since then received strong customer liquidity inflows,” he said.

Prashant Kumar, MD & CEO of Yes Bank, in his message to shareholders, said, "The successful completion of our Rs 15,000-crore follow-on public offering (FPO), India’s largest fund raise in the financial services sector, against an extremely challenging socio-economic backdrop is a testament to the faith reposed by our investors. This is one of the first but a very crucial step in the Bank’s journey of transformation into a Digital Bank."

Kumar also laid down a roadmap for executing the long term strategy of the bank’s transformation. A strong and sustained liabilities growth focus, creating a more granular franchise and a balanced earnings mix between wholesale and retail, building and monetising new businesses through digital innovation, bringing a sharp focus on cost optimisation while continuing to invest in growth opportunities would be among its key focus areas, he said.

The bank is also mulling increasing the shares offered under the Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) to 225 million from 75 million currently, as per its Annual General Meeting notice detailing the agenda for the September 10 meet. This is being done to incentivise employees and retain them.

The bank has fixed CEO Prashant Kumar’s remuneration at Rs 2.84 crore per annum, including a basic salary of Rs 45 lakh and other allowances worth Rs 1.05 crore, perquisites and retirement benefits.