Our fiduciary duty is to protect value of securities: YES on Dish TV issue

For the first time since the beginning of a tussle with Dish TV over board appointments, YES Bank MD & CEO Prashant Kumar broke silence on the issue and said the steps initiated by the bank were aimed at protecting the value of the securities.

“Dish TV shares are available to us as securities for our loan to some other entities. We are not a lender to Dish TV,” Kumar told Business Standard in an interaction.

The private sector lender has a 25.63 per cent stake in Dish TV.

“As a lender this is our fiduciary responsibility to ensure the value of our securities. So, whatever is happening, we are trying to protect the value of our securities, which are available to us for some of the NPAs,” Kumar said.

Last month, a single-judge Bench of the Bombay High Court dismissed Dish TV promoter World Crest Advisor’s plea seeking an order to restrain YES Bank from voting and attending the company’s extraordinary general meeting. World Crest Advisor then approached a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court challenging the single Bench’s ruling. The Division Bench dismissed the plea.

In the EGM, 78.9 per cent of shareholders voted against the resolution to reappoint Jawahar Goel as managing director. The resolution to reappoint Anil Kumar Dua, chief executive, as whole-time director also failed to receive a majority vote in favour. Jawahar Goel is the younger brother of Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra.

Asked if YES Bank had decided who would be the new managing director of Dish TV, Kumar said: “That is not our role. The board of the company will decide this.”

Kumar said to protect the bank’s interest, its executives reached out to the company for some credible names as board members, which was not accepted by Dish TV.

“When we wanted to protect our interest, we reached out to the company for having some credible names on the board which was not accepted by the company and it went on with its agenda which was not only voted against by us but by all the shareholders,” he said.

In May 2020, YES Bank became the largest shareholder in Dish TV after invoking the company's pledged share. The lender had extended loans to Essel Group promoters, and the promoters defaulted on repayment.