J&K Bank chalks out growth plan; declares 60% dividend

Our Banking Bureau
02 June 2003

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.