Yes Bank crisis | Withdrawal cap may be lifted as early as March 15, confirms Prashant Kumar

The Rs 50,000 withdrawal cap on Yes Bank's depositors may be withdrawn as early as March 15 and there is no question of a merger with State Bank of India (SBI) which is leading the rescue of the troubled lender, the administrator appointed by Reserve Bank of India said.

“The target is to make all banking services available at the earliest,” Prashant Kumar told CNBC-TV18. Kumar, a former deputy managing director at SBI, said he is confident of things stabilising at Yes Bank by April 3, adding that the RBI-imposed moratorium may even end by the end of this week.

April 3 is when the RBI-imposed moratorium is scheduled to ends.

Kumar dismissed the likelihood of Yes Bank merging with SBI, as is being widely speculated. He said Yes Bank would run as an independent bank. “The contingency of a merger is applicable only when there is no much confidence in raising capital,” he said.

On March 7, Yes Bank told its customers that they can withdraw money from ATMs using debit cards.

Calling customers ‘first priority’, Kumar said ATMs of other banks are available to Yes Bank customers since March 7 evening. He said RBI would come out with its final reconstruction plan soon, adding that at present, there are not many issues in the draft plan that need to be changed.

While stressing on the requirement of more capital, Kumar said State Bank of India (SBI) was helping Yes Bank reach out to investors for capital while clarity on capital requirement was expected in a couple of days.

Kumar confirmed that the bank was already in talks with investors while more details would be provided on March 14, when the quarterly result of the bank would be released.

At the same time, he dismissed any question of a merger with SBI. He said that Yes Bank would run as an independent bank. The contingency of a merger is applicable only when there is no much confidence in raising capital, he said.

Kumar also reiterated SBI's Chairman Rajnish Kumar statement that there was absolutely no question of a merger. Also, SBI is not going to ask for extra capital from the government, he said, adding that there is no connection between safety of deposits and market capitalisation.

On the contentious issue of Additional Tier I being written off, Kumar said: “Technically, AT1 can be written off if capital falls. AT-I always commands a 100 bps over Tier II bonds due to the risk. AT1 investors, who were enjoying a premium, would understand that this would be a one-off case."

He added that the new board would decide the fate of ex-CEO Ravneet Gill.