Page 44 - 15MAR2020E

Haryana Power Utility flouts

rules to put 1,000cr pension

dues in non-AAA rated bank

Close on the heels of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited unlawfully investing 4,122.70 crore
provident fund of power employees in Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd, it is the turn of
Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam to deposit over 1,000 crores with Yes Bank, against all prescribed
norms because rules allow deposits only in AAA-rated institutions. A report by bharat hiteshi

t was learnt that the HVPN amount rating of (P) ‘Ba3’, and Baseline Credit humiliation when Uttar Pradesh Power
was deposited in a savings bank Assessment (BCA) and adjusted BCA of Corporation Limited, unlawfully invested
account with the Yes Bank. The ‘b1’, long-term Counterparty Risk Assess- 4122.70 crore provident fund of power
HVPN was managing provident ment (CR Assessment) of Ba2 (cr) and employees in Dewan Housing Finance
I fund of employees in a Trust. The long-term domestic and foreign curren- Corporation Ltd (DHFCL), a Mumbai
amount was to be invested in AAA-rated cy counterparty risk rating (CRR) of Ba2. based private housing finance company,
institutions so that the corpus could grow Naturally the employees panicked when against all prescribed norms.
and meet liability of provident fund and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sometime The DHFCL was in news sometime
pension. It was learnt that the amount back placed Yes Bank under a moratori- back due to its alleged connection with
was parked in Yes Bank for the time um with depositors allowed to withdraw the company of gangster Iqbal Mirchi, a
being as instrument for investment was a capped amount of 50,000 per account former aide of Dawood Ibrahim. When
yet to be found, but now, it was blocked. for a month. The moratorium has since the DHFCL promoters were grilled by
If the amount remained parked in been lifted. The RBI took the decision in the Enforcement Directorate, the UP
the savings bank account for five to six consultation with the government to government referred the case to the CBI.
months or up to a year, the Provident protect depositors’ interest. The RBI also The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of
Fund Commissioner could raise an superseded the board of Yes Bank, which
objection that the savings bank account had not been able to raise required capi-
was not AAA-rated and violated Ministry tal for the past six months.
of Finance guidelines. Finance Minister, Nirmala Sithara-
VS Kundu, ACS and GMDA CEO, con- man has assured that depositors money
firmed that there were FDRs in Yes Bank. was safe in Yes Bank, but the question
He, however, added, “We have been remains how government departments
assured that we can withdraw these or autonomous bodies could defy exist-
soon.” It was also learnt from reliable ing rules of depositing funds only in AAA
sources that deposits of Kurukshetra ranked financial institutions.
University (KU) of over 100 crore and of Naturally, the employees are per-
Gurugram Metropolitan Development turbed. “We want to know how much
Authority (GMDA) of over 150 crore had money has been invested in Yes Bank. We
also been blocked. The Haryana Govern- do not want to lose our money. We will
ment has sought details from all depart- wait till March 12 and may go on strike
ments, boards, corporations and univer- thereafter,” said All Haryana Power Cor-
sities to provide details of their deposits poration Workers’ Union president Sub-
in various banks, including Yes Bank. hash Lamba.
t is worth mentioning that Moody’s In- Significantly, Haryana is not the
vestors Service has also placed the bank’s only State Government that has in-
long-term foreign and local currency vested employees funds relating to PF
bank deposit rating of ‘Ba3’, foreign cur- in a questionable manner. Recently, the
rency senior unsecured MTN program Uttar Pradesh government had to suffer

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