Private sector lender Yes Bank has reopened a pivotal chapter in India’s banking and corporate jurisprudence by filing a formal review petition before the Supreme Court of India, seeking reconsideration of the apex court’s October 15, 2026 judgment that overturned the bank’s ₹8,415 crore Additional Tier-1 (AT-1) bond write-off. In a regulatory filing submitted to the stock exchanges on Friday, November 13, 2026, the Mumbai-headquartered lender confirmed that it had invoked Article 137 of the Constitution of India—which empowers the Supreme Court to review its own judgments or orders. The move comes just weeks after the apex court upheld the Bombay High Court’s January 2023 verdict setting aside the March 2020 write-down, and days after bondholder representative Axis Trustee Services escalated legal pressure over delays in restoring the debt instruments. For retail and institutional bondholders across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Pune, Chennai, and Kolkata, as well as equity investors tracking banking stocks on the BSE and NSE, the outcome of this review plea carries major balance-sheet and regulatory implications.

How the Legal Battle Unfolded From March 2020 to November 2026

The six-year dispute traces its roots to March 2020, when Yes Bank was placed under a Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-led moratorium and reconstruction scheme amid severe financial distress, mounting non-performing assets, and governance turmoil. As part of that rescue exercise, the bank’s RBI-appointed administrator completely wrote down ₹8,415 crore worth of Basel III-compliant AT-1 bonds—comprising two tranches: ₹3,000 crore carrying a 9.5 percent coupon issued in December 2016 and ₹5,415 crore carrying a 9 percent coupon issued in October 2017—effectively wiping out bondholders’ principal.

Challenging the legality of the write-down, Axis Trustee Services and retail investor associations approached the Bombay High Court. In January 2023, the Bombay High Court ruled in favor of bondholders and quashed the write-off. Yes Bank, the Reserve Bank of India, and the Union Government subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court. However, on October 15, 2026, the Supreme Court dismissed those challenges and affirmed the Bombay High Court’s order—holding that the administrator had exceeded his statutory authority by writing down the AT-1 bonds after the final reconstruction scheme had already been notified.

Contempt Warning From Axis Trustee and Financial Impact on Yes Bank

Following the October 15 judgment, bondholders demanded immediate reinstatement of the securities in dematerialized form alongside clarity on unpaid interest coupons. On October 28, Axis Trustee Services served a formal notice directing Yes Bank’s board to restore the bonds in its register of holders within three days, warning of contempt proceedings before the Supreme Court for alleged willful disobedience. Yes Bank rejected any allegation of willful disobedience, stating on October 30 that it acknowledged the verdict and was evaluating its legal and financial options in accordance with applicable law before filing Friday’s Article 137 review petition.

For Yes Bank—where Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) now holds a 24 percent strategic stake—the stakes are substantial. Financial disclosures and analyst estimates indicate that full restoration of the ₹8,415 crore AT-1 bonds could trigger a one-time accounting impact of roughly ₹5,300 crore to ₹5,400 crore and trim the bank’s Common Equity Tier-1 (CET-1) capital adequacy ratio by around 240 basis points, even though the lender’s core operational metrics remain healthy with a 1.2 percent gross NPA ratio. The bank has stated it will continue making timely regulatory disclosures as the matter progresses.

What Are AT-1 Bonds and Why Were They Written Off in 2020

Additional Tier-1 (AT-1) bonds are unsecured, perpetual debt instruments issued by banks under global Basel III norms to shore up their core regulatory capital buffers. Because they carry no fixed maturity date and sit just above common equity in the loss-absorption hierarchy, AT-1 bonds offer investors significantly higher interest rates (coupons) than standard fixed deposits or senior bonds. However, they also carry elevated risk: under RBI guidelines, if a bank breaches specified capital thresholds or enters emergency statutory reconstruction during a severe crisis, the principal value of AT-1 bonds can be permanently written down or converted into equity to absorb losses—the exact mechanism invoked during Yes Bank’s March 2020 rescue that now awaits the Supreme Court’s review decision.