Prashant Kumar, tasked to lead YES Bank's revival, braces for Covid impact

Yes Bank returned to profit in the quarter ended September and Kumar made provisions for potential covid-related losses

The chief executive officer of Yes Bank Ltd., who helped the lender emerge from India’s biggest-ever bailout, is girding for fallout from the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak has “created a problem” on the loan book, even as progress has been made on fixing key drawbacks such as weak governance, fund-raising challenges and declining deposits, Prashant Kumar said in a phone interview Saturday.

It’s “very, very difficult to estimate the impact,” Kumar said. “With the fundamental issues taken care of, we want to control costs and increase profit to deal with any adverse impact on the credit due to the pandemic.”