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J&K
Bank chalks out growth plan; declares 60% dividend
Our
Banking Bureau
2 June 2003
 New
Delhi: The 65th annual general meeting of the shareholders
of J&K Bank was held today at Tagore Hall, Srinagar.
The meeting, chaired by bank chairman M Y Khan, adopted
the annual accounts of the bank and approved the payment
of dividend @ 60 per cent for the year ended 31 March
2003 subject to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval.
J
A Khan, IAS, financial commissioner, M S Pandit, IAS,
financial commissioner, finance department, J B Bhoria,
regional director, REBI for J&K and A M Khusroo, Vipin
Malik, J P Gupta, G Q Allaqband and other directors also
attended the meet. Muhammed Yasin Mir and B L Dogra were
elected as new directors on the board of the bank.
M
Y Khan highlighted the overall performance recorded by
the bank in 2002-03. The chairman said the core segments
of the bank's business — deposits, advances, foreign
exchange and treasury operations — have shown an
impressive growth. The capital and reserves of the bank
have increased by Rs 305 crore to Rs 1,242 crore during
the year from Rs 937 crore of the previous year, registering
an impressive growth of 32.55 per cent.
 The
chairman said the total income of the bank was Rs 1,714.56
crore against the previous year figure of Rs 1,610.86
crore. The net profit of the bank for the year was at
Rs 338 crore against the previous year's profit of Rs
260 crore, recording a growth of 30 per cent. In view
of the continued excellence in financial results, the
bank, with the approval of the shareholders, declared
a 60-per cent dividend for the year ended 31 March 2003
subject to RBI approval.
Khan
further said that the aggregate deposits of the bank have
recorded a considerable accretion of 13.66 per cent to
Rs 14,674.90 crore at the end of the financial year 2002-03
against the previous year's figure of Rs 1,2911.11 crore,
which is much higher than the national average growth
of 12.2 per cent.
The
bank recorded a remarkable growth of 24.70 per cent as
against the average national growth of 17.8 per cent at
the end of 31 March 2003 in its credit portfolio. The
total advances of the bank stood at Rs 8,010.95 crore
against Rs 6,423.89 crore of the previous year.
The
bank continued its commitment towards priority sector
lending. The net non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank
have been reduced to 1.58 per cent as on 31 March 2003,
which is one of the lowest in the industry and is planned
to be reduced to less than 1 per cent by the end of the
ensuing year.
The
capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.48 per cent, which
is much above the 9-per cent benchmark prescribed by the
RBI. The chairman said the focus of the bank's investment
policy centred on maximisation of return on invested funds
by investing in safe and liquid securities. During 2002-03,
the investment portfolio recorded a growth of 17.13 per
cent to Rs 6,737.82 crore from the Rs 5,752.55 crore of
the previous year.
The
chairman said the bank's first branch on Finacle core-banking
centralised solution has become live today and the rollover
of other branches shall follow. With the said solution,
the bank shall be making Internet-banking facility available
to its customers in the current year. He said the Banking
Global Access Card Maestro and Cirrus in association with
Master Card will be launched very soon.
The
chairman said diversification of the bank's business into
the insurance sector, depository services, share-broking
and the debit card business are some of the steps that
the bank has taken to increase its non-interest income,
reduce the burden to bare minimum and to maintain the
spread of over 3 per cent. The bank is distributing life
products of Metlife India and non-life products of Bajaj
Allianz. Through such and other services, the bank's branches
have been transformed into financial supermarkets.
 There
was a one-hour question-and-answer session wherein shareholders'
queries were replied. Some of the shareholders spoke on
the occasion and appreciated the achievements of the bank.
List
of reports on Jammu & Kashmir Bank
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