Yes Bank shares crashed 20% during the intraday trading session on Thursday, October 15, as investors focused on reports of a latest Supreme Court order setting aside the institutional lender’s plea to write off bonds amounting to around ?8,415 crore.

NSE data showed that Yes Bank shares declined 20% to hit an intraday low of ?16.96 apiece during Thursday’s market, in comparison to ?21.20 apiece at the previous equity market close.

Trading volumes surpassed 622 million equity shares across NSE and BSE combined, triggering the high-volume losses during the market session on October 15.

Investors powered the selling cues of Yes Bank’s stock on Thursday, as the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Bombay High Court order and set aside the lender’s plea dented the overall sentiment.

Yes Bank not being able to write off these AT1 bonds will potentially create a significant negative liability for the lender, as it will not be able to absorb losses during a potential financial or funding crisis.

Latest media reports suggest that the Supreme Court of India on Thursday, October 15, decided to quash the central government and Yes Bank’s appeal to write off the institutional lender’s Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds worth ?8,415 crore, upholding the earlier Bombay High Court order.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Augustine George Masih said that the court found no reason to interfere with the earlier High Court order ruling in favour of the bondholders.

“Therefore, for the reasons assigned in our judgment, we have held that we see no reason to interfere with the impugned judgment. The appeals are dismissed,” the bench said, as per a Mint report.

This comes after the court conducted its examination on whether Yes Bank’s administrator could write off the debt instruments. The essence of the case was centred on whether or not Yes Bank’s administrator has the legal authority to cancel the bonds as per the official reconstruction plan.