YES Bank shares hit 52-week high: Here’s why the stock rallied over 8% on Friday

In just one month, the stock has risen over 15%, while in three months it has surged nearly 21%. Over the past six months, YES Bank shares have gained more than 39%, and year-to-date, they have climbed 22%.

At 12:15 PM, YES Bank shares were trading at ₹23.96 apiece on the National Stock Exchange, gaining 6.87%.

This week, YES Bank board had "…approved the allotment of 12,45,046 (twelve lakh forty-five thousand and forty-six) equity shares of face value of ₹2/- each on October 07, 2025, pursuant to the exercise of 12,45,046 stock options."

The bank has received ₹1,67,61,660 (one crore sixty-seven lakh sixty-one thousand six hundred sixty only) through the exercise of stock options, it said in a regulatory filing.

The bank came on investors' radar after one of Japan's largest banking groups, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), got an approval last month from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to acquire up to 24.99% of its paid-up share capital or voting rights.

The nod came as part of the earlier announced deal in which SMBC said it will purchase 13.19% from State Bank of India (SBI) and 6.81% from seven other lenders, including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Axis Bank.

The RBI clarified that SMBC would not be classified as a promoter post-acquisition. The approval is valid for one year and remains subject to compliance with the Banking Regulation Act, FEMA provisions, and CCI clearance.

Following RBI's approval, YES Bank saw multiple banks, which held stakes in YES Bank, sell their shares to SMBC.

In September, The Federal Bank and Bandhan Bank reduced their shareholding in the lender following SBI’s completion of its divestment in the private lender.

Bandhan Bank sold 15.39 lakh shares of YES Bank to Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) at ₹21.50 per share. This reduced Bandhan Bank’s stake in YES Bank from 0.70% to 0.21%.

Further, The Federal Bank also “sold 166,273,472 equity shares of face value of ₹2.00 each of the Company held by the Bank, in favour of SMBC, at a consideration of ₹21.50 per share,” the lender said in a regulatory filing.

YES Bank's one of the largest shareholders – SBI – also divested its stake in the bank to SMBC as the lender completed the divestment of a 13.19% stake in Yes Bank to SMBC.

SMBC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG). It is among the leading foreign banks in India, and SMFG's wholly owned subsidiary, SMFG India Credit Company, is among the largest diversified NBFCs in India.

The bank was rescued by a consortium of lenders led by SBI in 2020 when the RBI had placed the bank under a moratorium due to a liquidity crisis and massive losses, resulting in a consortium led by SBI providing capital and other banks taking stakes to stabilise the private bank.

"(With) the advantage ...in terms of having a strategic investor, the ability to raise capital, somebody willing to put (money)...the possibility of our rating upgrade is there," Yes Bank's managing director and chief executive Prashant Kumar told PTI in an interview.

Kumar, a career SBI executive who was rushed to helm the recovery of the private bank in March 2020, said that YES Bank's rating has improved to 'AA-' now from 'D' earlier.

The private lender’s board will meet on October 18 to consider and approve the unaudited standalone and consolidated financial results of the bank for Q2 FY26 and the half year ended on September 30, 2025.