Yes Bank on Tuesday dismissed claims about the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) giving in principle nod to a 51 per cent stake sale as "factually incorrect", following which its shares opened higher in early trade. The stock hit an intraday high of 26.32 in the morning.
In a regulatory filing, the lender stated, "RBI has not given any in principle approval as stated in the article and this clarification is issued by the company voluntarily to dispel the baseless media article."
Citing sources, a media report had earlier claimed that RBI gave nod to the 51 per cent stake sale, which will result in change in ownership and could value the lender at around $10 billion. Usually, RBI limits promoter stake in domestic banks to 26 per cent.
"In this regard, the bank would like to clarify that the contents of the said article are factually incorrect and purely speculative in nature," it added.
Last month, the lender laid off around 500 employees as part of a restructuring move to optimise its workforce., with the most impact on the branch banking vertical. The employees were given three months' salary as severance pay, said a report by The Economic Times. This comes as other banks in the private sector have been hiring staff.