Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 16: Jammu and Kashmir Bank today reported 60 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 101.61 crore for the fourth quarter ended March on account of rise in bad loans.
The bank’s net profit stood at Rs 250.60 crore in the January-March quarter of 2013-14.
Gross NPAs as a percentage of total advances rose significantly to 5.97 per cent from 1.66 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.
The bank’s net NPAs went up to 2.77 per cent from 0.22 per cent at the end of March 2014.
The total provisions, excluding for income tax, rose to Rs 380.76 crore during the quarter as against Rs 60.57 crore in the year-ago period.
Total income has increased to Rs 2,023.5 crore in quarter ended March, from Rs 1,888.6 crore in the same period of last fiscal, the bank said in a BSE filing.
The J&K Government holds 53.17 per cent stake in the bank.
The bank has recommended 210 per cent dividend, or Rs 2.10 per unit, for 2014-15.
For the full fiscal 2014-15, the bank’s net profit fell by 57 per cent to Rs 508.60 crore as compared to Rs 1,182.47 crore in the previous fiscal.
Total income increased to Rs 7,655.10 crore for the year to March 2015, from Rs 7,157.26 crore for the year ended March 31, 2014.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Bank along with its business partner Bajaj Allianz have settled 30,000 claims of flood victims and together paid Rs 1700 crores worth insurance claims to the victims.
This was revealed by Bank Chairman Mushtaq Ahmad in an official handout issued today while releasing audited financial results for fourth quarter of the year ending March 2015 in which the Bank has posted net profit of Rs 101.61 crores. The Bank’s profit for 2014-15 was Rs 508.60 crores.
“Post-September 2014 floods, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank has disbursed Rs 700 crores additionally through relief and rehabilitation package in the State. Bazaz Allianz, the business partner of the Bank, has settled 30,000 insurance claims worth Rs 1000 crores,’’ Ahmad said.
He said the stress in country’s economy is far from over.
“Very slow economic growth across the country has compounded the revival of stressed assets in the banking system which, in turn, has resulted in continuation of stress on asset-quality of the banks during the financial year of 2014-15. As such there is a course correction going on across the industry and we too had to go for higher provisioning with the objective of having a higher Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR). We have provided Rs 265 crores in excess of required regulatory requirements thereby improving our PCR to 59 pc from 51 pc as recorded in the quarter ending December 31, 2014,’’ the Chairman said.
He added that the cleansing and consolidating of balance sheet has led to a major slash in the bank’s profits because strengthening balance sheet remained the Bank’s top priority.
“Even now the bad loans continue to swell across the industry, which analysts and rating agencies predict will increase during the current year as well. Thus improving our asset quality shall engage our total focus till economic growth starts picking up and NPA scenario improves. Besides, we have put in place a robust mechanism for NPA management enabling us to track down early warning signals in our loan-book,’’ Mushtaq Ahmad said.
He said the Bank will maintain growth momentum and profitability with an improved Net Interest Margin (NIM) during the current fiscal year of 2015-16.
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