KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Highlighting the role of J&K Bank in growth and development of the state, the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Saturday reiterated his confidence in the Bank’s focus on inward business strategy, which stresses on enhanced lending within the state.
He credited the J&K Bank for setting high standards of professionalism and appreciated the role it has played in state’s socio-economic development. “The Bank’s lending figures within the state are encouraging. We also need to devise a friendly repaying strategy to benefit business units in horticulture and industrial sectors,” he told J&K Bank Chairman, while receiving two dividend cheques for an amount of Rs 54.13 Crore for the year 2014-15 at a presentation ceremony, held here this morning.
Emphasizing upon revival of the cooperative movement so that rural economies are revitalized, Mufti Sayeed desired that the Finance Minister raise this issue with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
On the issue of enhanced lending within the state, Mufti Sayeed was informed that lending has turned inwards and doubled in J&K over the last four years and reached Rs 44,586 Crore from around Rs 23,000 Crore in 2010. The ratio of advances in the state viz-a-viz outside stood at 52:48 as on June 30, 2015.
Asking the Bank to broaden the scope of its CSR activities, the Chief Minister also called upon the Finance Minister to vigorously pursue the recapitalization plan from RBI to recuperate the ailing District Cooperative Banks in Baramulla, Jammu and Islamabad districts, for which the state will favour crediting its share of Rs 139 Crore in multiple tranches, given the weak resource base of the state. “The issue was discussed threadbare when I met the NABARD Chairman earlier this month,” he said, while indicating a wider role for state’s cooperatives in the public distribution mechanism of the state.
The Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb A Drabu, assured the Chief Minister that steps will be taken to address critical areas like NPA (Non-Performing Assets) and bad loans, which were showing an upward trend for quite some time.
He briefed the Chief Minister about RBI’s restructuring package and the steps the government is taking to address the issue. “We are also keeping a close eye on stressed accounts due to operational and managerial inefficiencies, so as to ensure that they do not turn NPA,” he added.
The Finance Minister also informed the Chief Minister that in his last meeting with the RBI Governor, he had strongly pitched for declaring all lending in J&K as priority sector lending.
Speaking on the occasion, J&K Bank Chairman thanked the Chief Minister for his support and apprised him about the Bank’s performance. “The bank’s business has increased from Rs 62,871 Crore as on 30th September 2010 to Rs 110,342 Crore as on March 31, 2015,” he said, adding that commercial credit in the state has more than doubled from around Rs 10,000 Crore to Rs 23,000 Crore during the last five years.
