Business delegation calls on J&K Bank CMD

Srinagar, July 19: A delegation of prominent valley based businessmen led by former president Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industries (KCCI) Javed Ahmad Tenga Monday called upon Jammu and Kashmir Bank Chairman and Managing Director R K Chhibber here at Bank’s Corporate Headquarters to discuss various issues pertaining to the business community.
Special Secretary to CMD Karanjit Singh, Presidents Anil Deep Mehta and Syed Rais Maqbool, and other senior officials of the Bank were part of the meeting attended by Nasir Ahmad Khan, Faiz Bakshi, Jagmohan Singh Raina, Wahid Malik, Majid Wafia and Ashaq Hussain Shangloo representing different businesses of the valley.
Affirming that J&K Bank was eager to serve business community within the regulatory norms, the CMD stated that the Bank, in association with J&K UT government, has created thousands of employment avenues through various entrepreneurial programs across J&K.
The CMD said, “We have similar goals when it comes to the success of people, businesses and industries here. We have always and will continue to extend maximum possible support to the businesses because our growth is interlinked and we have a shared future in the J&K‘s fortunes. During UT Government’s flagship ‘Back to Village’ Program last year J&K Bank provided employment to around 18000 youth by disbursing about Rs 300 Cr in the form of various loans.
“For the Government’s upcoming ‘Mission Youth’ scheme, J&K Bank plans to provide employment to around 50000 youth through various entrepreneurial programs,” he added.
On the occasion, he informed the businessmen that the delegation of Parliamentary standing committee that visited Kashmir last week have left the valley with a very positive perception about J&K Bank.
Commending the leadership role of the J&K Bank lead by CMD R K Chhibber, Javeed Ahmad Tenga said that under his tutelage bank has successfully put all the functional systemsin place to take it to newer heights. Congratulating the management for encouraging results of Financial Year 2020-21, Tenga stated that Bank’s support was like oxygen to the business community.
“There is no denying the fact J&K Bank is lifeline of J&K economy and people have huge expectations from this institution. With businesses almost halted form last two years, J&K Bank has a vital role to play in getting the economy back on its feet,” he said.
While putting forward many suggestions before the CMD, the members of the delegation requested for comprehensive financial solutions for tourism/handicraft sectors, extension of moratorium periods and soft OTS policy. They also requested the CMD to direct the concerned not to downgrade the accounts realtime and provide some succour in this respect.The members also urged the bank to revisit the lending policies pertaining to horticulture, relax lending guidelines to general traders falling under MSME sector, review rating mechanism and formulate a restructuring plan to provide additional funding to the borrowers.
Asserting that there was no manual intervention from J&K Bank in the downgrading of accounts, the CMD responded, “There are laid down procedures from RBI and we have to abide by that. However we do have a robust OTS scheme in place that saw settlement of many accounts during the last financial year and we shall encourage such genuine cases to come forward and take benefit of the same in future also.”
CMD thanked the delegation for their feedback also expressed his assurance that all genuine demands shall be taken into consideration in the light of guidelines set by the regulators.