Yes Bank returns `397cr temple fund

Hours after Yes Bank resumed its operations on Thursday, the private sector lender remitted `397 crore to designated State Bank of India (SBI) account of Jagannath Temple Corpus Fund at Puri Main Branch. Earlier, restrictions on withdrawal of funds from Yes Bank had kicked off a political storm in Odisha.

Informing about the development in a letter to Krishan Kumar, the chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), senior vice-president of Yes Bank Jaydev Das said, “We have remitted `397,23,27,636 (principal `389 crore and interest `8,23,27,636) to the designated SBI Account of Jagannath Temple Corpus Fund, SBI main branch in Puri.”

As per the terms and conditions of the fixed deposits (FD) placed with us, Yes Bank has fully paid all the quarterly interest on time up to December 31, 2019.

The remaining interest that is accrued till March 19, 2020 has been remitted along with the principal amount `389 crore to the SBI account of Jagannath Temple Corpus Fund.

The bank further clarified that as two more FDs of `156 crore is also under NoPremat option, it doesn’t allow bank to pay prematurely as per the extended guidelines of the regulator. Hence, the principal amount of `156 crore and interest up to date shall be remitted on March 30, 2020.

The money will be remitted to the designated Jagannath Temple Corpus Fund account on the date of its maturity, Yes Bank said in its statement.

Earlier, Opposition parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress had tried to corner the Odisha government over its decision to park funds belonging to the Lord Jagannath in crisis-hit Yes Bank.