Yes Bank Targets To Recover Over Rs 5,000 Crore In FY23

Nearly completing its transformation journey since the implementation of restructuring measures in March 2020, Yes Bank targets to recover over Rs 5,000 crore during the current fiscal, the lender said in its annual report 2021-22.

The bank's transformation journey is now near complete, and the restructuring is yielding strong results. The bank reported a net profit of Rs 1,066 crore in FY2021-22 -- the first full-year of profitability reported since FY19, Yes Bank Chairman Sunil Mehta said in the annual report released on Wednesday.

"With lessons of the past now well integrated, we have emerged as a more innovative and more robust organization that is keenly aware of what is next and how to get there," Mehta said.

He said the bank has restored market confidence through its performance in recent years and is continuing to build businesses for the future.

Mehta said strong growth is reflected across total assets, advances and deposits, and the strategic objective of the bank's advances mix between Retail and MSME to corporate at 60:40 has been achieved.

Its MD and CEO Prashant Kumar said during the second wave of COVID-19 which induced uncertain times, Yes Bank was able to post one of its strongest annual and quarterly results.

"To strengthen our commitment to all our stakeholders, we have shared our strategic objectives for FY2022-23," Kumar said.

This include CASA ratio at 35%, retail and MSME advances mix to further improve by over 400 bps (4%) from the current 60:40, advances year-on-year growth of over 15% with corporate advances growth at 10%, he said.

Further, the bank has SME and medium enterprises advances growth target of over 25% during the year, sustain Cash to Deposit ratio of less than 100%, while recoveries and upgrades are targeted at over Rs 5,000 crore, Kumar said in his address to the shareholders.

During the fiscal ended March 2022, the bank's balance sheet crossed Rs 3 lakh crore and the gross non-performing assets ratio improved to 13.9% from 15.4% in the previous fiscal. The net NPAs stood at 4.5% at end of March 2022.

Besides, the private sector lender had new loans sanctions worth Rs 70,000 crore during the year. Of this, nearly Rs 33,000 crore was in retail assets.

There was an unwavering focus on recoveries during the year, Kumar said, adding the stressed asset management team was instrumental in achieving cash recoveries and upgrades amounting to Rs 7,290 crore in 2021-22, on the back of Rs 5,782 crore in FY2020-21.

"The strong push towards business generation has in no way taken away our focus on improving our loan book quality, with NPA ratio improving to 13.9%..," he noted.

Kumar also said the bank foresees high growth potential within emerging rural markets and MSMEs.

Currently, India's MSMEs contribute to nearly one-third of the country's GDP through their domestic and international commerce, and a large portion of them are onboarding onto digital modes of operation.

He said Yes Bank reported nearly Rs 2,500 crore new sanctions/ disbursements in rural segment and Rs 18,000 crore to SMEs in FY 2021-22.

On the Environmental, Social and Governance goals, Yes Bank said it targets to achieve net zero emissions from its operations by 2030. As a first step, it switched to sourcing renewable energy to power its headquarters in Mumbai, among others.

Committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, the bank is targeting to increase the participation of women to 30 per cent of its workforce in the next five years. It is also in the process of recruiting differently-abled persons at select centres.

"We are in a leadership position in UPI and AePS, with a market share of 43% and 18% in FY2021-22, respectively. In fact, the bank processes nearly every third digital transaction undertaken in India."

"We also have a reasonable market share while processing payouts through NEFT (14% market share), IMPS (12% market share) and micro ATMs (3rd largest player with 10% market share),' Kumar added.