NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir Bank, which has made its highest ever profit, is also contributing to events lined up for the upcoming G20 meeting in Srinagar. They are pitching in wherever their expertise is required along with commercial contributions.
"We are looking forward to the upcoming G20 meetings in Srinagar and have contributed towards the successful conduct of these meetings, which includes sponsoring a few G20 related events," Baldev Prakash, MD and CEO of J&K Bank, told The New Indian Express.
Being the premier financial institution of the Union Territory, J&K Bank has been at the forefront of implementing the Union government’s flagship programs from deepening of financial inclusion to broadening the social security cover across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
J&K Bank was amongst the main sponsors of the recently concluded Youth 20 Consultation Summit held in Srinagar under the G20. Youth delegates from Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the US, Brazil and Nigeria took part.
Meanwhile, it is interesting to note that J&K Bank has made its highest ever annual profit of Rs 1197 crore and is paying dividend to its shareholders at 50 per cent of the face value of the bank share. This dividend was paid after a gap of seven years.
What is interesting is that dividends could be possible due to the efforts that helped in successfully turning around the bank’s revenue.
"Let me tell you that the turnaround was entirely planned in the first quarter of FY 2022-23 during the bank’s maiden Strategy Conclave in Srinagar. During the conclave we identified the focus areas in performance and functioning like profitability, business growth, asset-quality, capital augmentation, business process re-engineering etc.; prepared an action plan and started implementing it on priority basis across our zones of operation. Thereafter, the entire strategy was put up for review on monthly basis till March 2023. Now the results are there for everyone to see," Prakash added.
J&K bank noticed a marked improvement in Asset Quality from 8.67 per cent to 6.04 per cent which was achieved through proactive management of SMAs and vigorous follow-up of bad loans.
The bank at present has 987 branches, 82 Easy Banking Units (EBUs), 24 Extension Counters (ECs) and 1418 ATMs across the country covering 18 states and 4 Union territories.
Additionally, they have 1067 Business Correspondents serving people of difficult and far-off geographies through Khidmat Centres (Common Service Centres) by extending basic banking services that includes doorstep banking.