KL Report
SRINAGAR
J&K Bank today held 76th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of its share holders here, which approved the dividend payment of 500 percent to bank’s share owners. The meeting witnessed an unprecedented attendance of shareholders of the bank from different walks of life.
Addressing the jam-packed audience at SKICC, Chairman and CEO Mushtaq Ahmad appreciated the share holders for their emotional bonding and unflinching support saying, “The achievements of the bank would not have been possible without your continued patronage and unwavering support which has always been a source of strength and inspiration for us.”
Attributing the bank’s growth momentum to its business model, he said, “Amidst these strenuous economic conditions prevailing for most part of last financial year, J&K Bank leveraged intrinsic strength and vivacity of its business model to deliver an excellent performance. Our performance has been outstanding as compared to our peers in the system.”
“The bank,” he said, “has registered an all round progress in all the areas whether it is management of stressed assets, provisioning levels, return on assets , return on equity etc. I would specifically mention that the Dividend Yield of 2.65% and Dividend Payout ratio of 20.50% are amongst the best in the industry.”
“During 2013-14, we continued with the rapid expansion of our multi-delivery channels and added a total of 92 business units to increase our business unit network to 777 at the end of March 2014. Similarly, we added 187 new ATMs to take our total ATM network to 800 as on 31st March 2014”, he added.
Laying special emphasis on the bank’s vision of inclusive growth and comprehensive development, he said, “As a developmental institution, J&K Bank remains central to the prosperity of J&K State and lays high emphasis on inclusive growth involving the weakest sections of the society.”
“Commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) remains one of our core values. Under CSR programme the bank will increase its role in a big way”, he added.
After the address, Company Secretary Abdul Majid Bhat read out the auditors’ report and business agenda of the meeting.
Notably, due to some recent regulatory changes made in the procedural norms, approval from the share holders for resolutions was sought through e-voting. The process of e-voting through ballot was completed on 29th July, 2014, in which more than 75 lac votes were cast.
Later, Chairman & CEO Mushtaq Ahmad declared the voting results wherein the resolutions were approved by the shareholders. All the resolutions were approved by more than 95 percent of the votes.
Meanwhile, the bank’s board strength reached eleven after the appointment of Dalip Kumar Kaul and Khaver Alam Jeelani as two new independent directors for the board as per the resolutions approved with overwhelming majority.
Dalip Kumar Kaul is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). He is B.Com (Hons) and LLB from the University of Delhi. He is also Master’s in Business Administration (Finance), having specialization in Merchant Banking, Risk Management, treasury, International Finance. He has 31 years experience in advising corporate and non corporate clients. Presently he is Member of Executive Committee of J&K Branch of NIRC of ICAI and was its chairman for the year 2013-14. He is also Peer Reviewer on the panel of Reviewers maintained by the Peer Review Board of the ICAI. He was a special invitee Member-committee on banking, insurance & pension of ICAI.
Khaver Alam Jeelani was associated with Morgan Stanely Investment Management (London) from the year 2002 to 2007. He has represented Morgan Stanely at the European Fund Categorisation Forum (EFCF). He is holding degree of B. A. Hons in Industrial Economics from the university of Nottingham (Business School) and M. Sc. In Economics and Finance from the university of Warwick (Warwick Business School). He is also an Associate of Securities Institute (UK).
Meanwhile, the shareholders unanimously approved the re-appointment of R K Gupta as director after his due retirement at the same meeting. Vikrant Kuthiala was also inducted in the board as independent director.
Towards the conclusion of AGM, a lively Q&A session was held. All the questions raised in the session were promptly responded to by the Chairman to the satisfaction of the shareholders.
Meanwhile, the shareholders appreciated the bank’s performance and came up with certain suggestions and concerns which were duly taken note of by the competent authorities.
