SRINAGAR: The Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) congratulated JK Bank for making an all-time high net profit of 1197 Crores in the last financial year besides improving significantly upon all other banking parameters.
In a statement FCIK while attributing the remarkable achievement of the bank to its dedicated and hardworking management and staff, the apex industrial body said that the bank has improved its outlook towards accelerated regrowth of the J&K economy and high-end sustainability.
FCIK equally attributed the success and achievement of J&K Bank to its loyal depositors from Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh whose deposits accounted for 88.20% of total deposits of Rs.122038 Crores with 6% growth from the last year. FCIK observed that this deposit profile has played an important role in maintaining the margins of the bank as the cost of these deposits stood at one of the lowest rates amoung the Indian scheduled commercial banks, implying lower than peers’ deposit costs @ 3.67%.
“Such a gesture depicted and displayed an emotional bonding of the people of UTJKL with the bank since its inception in 1938 which needed to be respected, maintained and enhanced further.
“The achievement is also attributed to the borrowers of the bank who have obtained loans from the bank and returned the same with one of the highest interest rates among the Indian scheduled commercial banks” observed FCIK adding that the bank might have been within its right to cover prevalent risk factors while overcharging their borrowers during turbulent times when all other banks had backed out from flowing credit to various economic sectors including MSMEs.
“Although the improvement upon Credit-Deposit ratio to 67.43% by the bank was fair yet it was much below the national average of 75%” observed FCIK adding that J&K Bank needed to fully concentrate on the increased credit flow to all economic sectors in UTJKL as it was observed that out of total advances of Rs.82285 a significant portion has been advanced to large corporate and other enterprises outside the Union Territory.
“The recoveries made from the NPA account holders after the launch of OTS-2022, Karz Mukti Scheme etc. have also aided in the increased profit earning of the bank”, observed FCIK adding that the profit could have increased further had the bank authorities conceded to the demand of FCIK and other business chambers for modification of the OTS schemes.
FCIK said that it was gratifying that the net NPA of J&K Bank stood just at 1.62% to net advances probably one of the lowest in the banking industry and that all borrowers of UTJKL were anxious to repay every penny of their loans borrowed from the bank on launch of a uniform, non-discriminatory OTS with trouble-free provisions and repayment schedule in consultation with the UT government and stakeholders. FCIK hoped that J&K Bank now initiated necessary steps towards launching such a policy which, among other things, could surely enable them to increase the current year’s profits to an all-time high by surpassing the profit figures of the previous year.
