'Mutual funds' exposure to Yes Bank at Rs 3,345 cr'

Mumbai, Mar 6 () Asset management companies are staring at a Rs 3,345.48-crore hole in their books with their exposure to the equity and bonds of Yes Bank, which is under a 30-day moratorium, according to data from Morningstar.

As of January 31, 2020, nearly two dozen mutual fund houses have exposure of close to Rs 526.42 crore to the stock, while 11 have invested Rs 2,819.06 crore in the bonds of the troubled private sector lender, as per the data.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday evening capped withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per depositor for a month and imposed strict limits on operations at the country's fourth-largest private lender that faced "regular outflow of liquidity" after an effort to raise new capital failed.

As per the data, SBI Mutual Fund has the highest exposure of Rs 152.83 crore, followed by Rs 142.02 crore by HDFC Mutual Fund in the bank's equities, as at the end of January.

Kotak Mutual Fund's exposure was Rs 62.60 crore, while Nippon India Mutual Fund invested Rs 61.21 crore in stocks of the bank.

UTI Mutual Fund's exposure was Rs 33.18 crore in the stocks of the bank.

Nippon India has the highest exposure of Rs 1,806.28 crore to debt issued by the bank. Earlier in the day, Nippon India Mutual Fund said it has marked down the value of its investments to zero in bonds issued by Yes Bank.

In addition, the fund house has imposed a limit of Rs 2 lakh on fresh inflows into the impacted schemes till further notice, it said in a statement.

Franklin Templeton and UTI Mutual Fund invested Rs 475.72 crore and Rs 336.67 crore, respectively, in bonds of the lender.

Kotak MF's exposure to bonds was Rs 93.83 crore as on January 31, 2020.

Mahindra Mutual Fund said it has nil exposure to Yes Bank.

"Mahindra Credit Risk Yojana had a net exposure of 1.83 per cent in Yes Bank as of December 31, 2019. We had continued to pare down exposure in Yes Bank, due to the management's inability to demonstrate raising risk/ equity capital," the mutual fund house said in a statement.

In February, the company fast-paced its exit from the residual exposure in the bank and have completely exited the same, it said.

Quantum Mutual Fund's Fund Manager (Fixed Income) Pankaj Pathak said, "Quantum Liquid Fund prioritises safety and liquidity over returns and invests only in less than 91 day maturity instruments issued by government securities, treasury bills and top rated PSUs." HV HRS