KL NEWS NETWORK

SRINAGAR

Bank

While recognizing sluggish market conditions taking its toll in the banking industry and calling fluctuations in profitability as a routine business norm, the shareholders of the J&K Bank appreciated the performance of the bank during the past one year.

The shareholders of the bank had assembled here Saturday at 77th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank’s shareholders. “Among other things, two new directors were appointed and a dividend payment of 210 percent to its share owners was approved at the meeting,” a company statement said this evening.

Commissioner Secretary Finance Naveen Kumar Chaudhary represented the state government, which is the major stake-holder in the bank, at the AGM that took place here in a jam-packed SKICC auditorium. Shareholders of the bank belonging to different walks of life attended the meeting.

“In his key-note address the Bank’s Chairman and CEO Mushtaq Ahmad thanked the shareholders for their continued support in ‘one of the most challenging years in recent times’,” the statement said.

“Throughout the year we were confronted with numerous impediments and uncertainties. However, with your unwavering support, we succeeded in navigating safely through this turbulence,” he said.

He recollected the disproportionately sharp increase in stressed assets in the Indian Banking System and the situation created by the devastating floods of September, 2014 in J&K as the most daunting challenges of the last financial year.

“FY 2014-15 witnessed unprecedented floods in J&K State that left devastation of colossal magnitude in its wake. Our own infrastructure was badly hit and our operations within the state went out of gear. However, we not only brought things back on track within a week’s time, but also contributed immensely towards the comprehensive relief and rehabilitation of the flood affected people. These activities were undertaken under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Project of the bank,” he said.

However, he reassured the audience saying, “The Q1 results for the year FY2015-16 are largely in line with our expectations as is manifested by an increase of 22 percent in net profit. Going ahead, we expect significant improvement in our net income and asset quality.”

Sounding optimistic for the coming times, he observed, “The future appears promising. All the vital parameters indicate a favourable operating environment in the near as well as the medium term. With your continued support, we remain poised to harness the conditions and achieve newer heights.”

About the Zonal re-organisation in J&K, he said, “We have undertaken a major re-organization of our Zonal set-up in the J&K State by setting up four additional business zones. This step was necessitated by a manifold increase in business and geographical spread of the bank and also the increased competitiveness in the industry. I believe this step shall infuse operational efficiency and will be of great benefit to our customers.”

Speaking about the growing convergence of digital banking and inclusive banking in the near future he said, “Our focus shall be on simplifying the current technological solutions to provide easy, comprehensive and better financial products which can serve diverse spectrum, ranging from elite groups to underprivileged strata, of our society.”

After the address, Company Secretary Abdul Majid Bhat read out the auditors’ report and business agenda of the meeting.

Later, Chairman & CEO Mushtaq Ahmad declared the e-voting results wherein the resolutions were approved by the shareholders. All the resolutions were approved by vast majority of the votes.

At the AGM, Abdul Majid Mir and Azhar Ul Amin were appointed as two new directors as per the resolutions approved with overwhelming majority, while as M Ibrahim Shahdad retired from the board as per rules.

Notably, Abdul Majid Mir is former Executive Director of the bank who functioned as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the bank.

The AGM witnessed a lively Q&A session. 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 compliments and concerns which were duly taken note of by the chairman, the statement added.

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