BHUBANESWAR: Yes Bank on Thursday remitted Rs 397.23 crore to the Jagannath Temple Corpus Fund after days of uncertainty over the fate of the money deposited in the crisis-hit bank.
The remission of the fund was informed to the chief administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Krishan Kumar by senior vice-president of the Yes Bank Jaydev Das in a letter. The remitted funds included a fixed deposit of Rs 389 crore and interest of Rs 8.23 crore.
The letter said the money has been deposited in the account of the Jagannath Temple Corpus Fund in the SBI Main Branch at Puri. Das maintained that as per the terms and conditions of fixed deposit, the bank has fully paid all the quarterly interest on time up to December 31, 2019.
The remaining interest till March 19, 2020 has been remitted along with the principal amount of Rs 389 crore.
Two more fixed deposits of Rs 156 crore is also under the no-premature option which does not allow bank to pay prematurely as per the extended guidelines of the regulator, Das said and added that the bank will remit the principal amount and interest on March 30, 2020, the date of maturity, the designated account of the Jagannath Temple Corpus Fund.
Temple fund amounting to Rs 592 crore was deposited in Yes Bank’s Puri branch between March 19 and 30 last year. While Rs 545 crore was kept as fixed deposit, the remaining Rs 47 crore was kept in a flexi account. Fund in the flexi fund was withdrawn after some members raised questions during the temple managing committee meeting on December 20, 2019.
There was din over the issue during the ongoing budget session of the assembly with members raising concern over the deposited fund in the Yes Bank. Replying to an adjournment motion notice brought by the Opposition members in the assembly, Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari had said that the fund was deposited in the Yes bank as it agreed to a highest annual interest rate of 8.61 per cent.
Ruling BJD members had taken up the issue with Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy had also written to the RBI Governor over the issue.