Yes Bank crisis: Gujarat firm withdrew ₹265 crore a day before RBI imposed moratorium

In a curious incident Vadodara Smart City Development Company — a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) — withdrew ₹265 crores from Yes Bank a day before the Reserve Bank imposed a moratorium on the bank.

On Thursday, the RBI restricted withdrawals from Yes Bank to ₹50,000 per depositor due to the private lender's precarious financial situation.

As per media reports, Sudhir Patel, chief executive officer of the SPV and deputy municipal commissioner of the VMC, said on Friday that the amount had been received from the Centre as part of a grant under the Smart City Mission and deposited with a local Yes Bank branch.

It was withdrawn two days ago considering the problems faced by Yes Bank and transferred to a new account at Bank of Baroda, he contended.

Referring to the Vadodara Smart City Development Company withdrawing ₹265 crores from Yes Bank a day before the RBI imposed the moratorium, Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant alleged that this shows Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were worried only about Gujarat and not the whole country.

He said the BJP-led Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra has ₹905 crores deposited in Yes Bank, but it was allegedly not ‘informed’ by the Modi-Shah duo.

With PTI inputs