Posting a splendid 36 per cent growth in Q3, J&K Bank seems to be firm on the path of achieving its ambitious target of Rs 1000 crore profit and Rs 1 lakh crore business this fiscal. That the bank has registered a net profit of Rs 805 crore and clocked Rs 92,732 crore total business for the first nine months of this year, serves as a reassurance for it that the target is within reach. Worth appreciating about the bank is that it has consistently improved its asset quality. The gross NPAs of the bank have declined to 1.61 per cent for quarter third, as against 1.80 per cent for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The net NPA ratio of the bank has further decreased to 0.14 per cent, which is best in the industry. Its NPA coverage has increased to 94.21 per cent. The cumulative result of this has been that the earnings per share of the bank have jumped to Rs 59.70. No wonder then its stock price crossed Rs 1400 mark in the last few trading sessions on Indian bourses. The bank has also spread its wings in the far and wide of Kashmir. Several unbanked areas have been covered by it this year through its massive expansion plan.
Credit goes to the bank for pioneering and creating a corporate culture in the state. However, the need of the hour is to further help this corporate culture grow and develop. Both the government as well as the bank— which is owned by the state itself — can play a major role in underpinning the J&K’s moribund economy. The bank with its whopping over Rs 57,000 crore deposit portfolio, can trigger a boom in the trade and industry in Kashmir. Our industry and other vital sectors of the economy are starving of funds; we have been badly lagging behind in investments— the two reasons largely responsible for swelling the ranks of unemployed in the state. It is for the bank to come up with a radical advance policy that would make our sleeping sectors come roaring and thrive.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 5 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 5 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 6 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST