Yes Bank Sees Best Day After RBI Gives Clean Chit

Yes Bank Ltd's shares surged 30 percent early on Thursday in their sharpest ever intraday jump, a day after the Indian central bank cleared the private sector lender of any divergences in bad loan reporting practices.

More than 101 million shares changed hands by 0418 GMT, double the 30-day average trading volume, and making them the most heavily traded on the National Stock Exchange.  

The central bank did not find any divergences in the asset classification and provisioning by Yes Bank for the fiscal year ending 2018, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

This came as a relief for Yes Bank, which reeled under pressure last year to bring in a new chief executive officer amid an increasingly assertive approach by the Reserve Bank of India to tackle domestic banks' bad debts. 

Yes Bank hired Deutsche Bank India's chief Ravneet Gill as its new chief executive after the central bank denied twice last year Rana Kapoor an extension to his term without giving a reason. 

KEY OVERHANG REMOVED

Citi analysts said the "positive report can support a more rapid return to market than otherwise would have been possible", adding this would be one of the key priorities for Gill.

"We believe it is time for the RBI to increase transparency on decisions that have a significant impact on minority shareholders," Jefferies analysts said.

(Reuters)