Yes Bank admin cannot write down AT1 bonds, Axis Trustee tells SC

The 2020 decision of the administrator of Yes Bank to write down the lender’s additional tier-1 (AT1) bonds could not be done legally, the Axis Trustee Services on behalf of institutional AT-1 bondholders told the Supreme Court on Thursday.

- BHAVINI MISHRA

‘The counsel for Axis argued that only the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had the power to write down the bonds and not the administrator who acts as the board of the bank. The lawyer also argued that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appears for RBI, State Bank of India(SBI) and the Centre, “sings the same tune for all three only now”.

He said it was only after the matter came to court that RBI, SBI and the Centre were on the same page.