The J&K Bank on Monday reported a near doubling of its net profit to Rs 45.28 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, compared to Rs 22.79 crore for the corresponding period last year. 
The Board of Directors of the bank has recommended the highest ever dividend of 115 per cent for the year 2006-07.
On annual basis, the bank, which is increasing its presence in SME, retail and micro-finance lending, posted a net profit of Rs 274.49 crore as against Rs 176.83 crore in the year ended March 31, 2006. This translates into a 55 per cent increase in its net profit, which is better than any other bank in the country this year. 
In spite of rising interest rates, the cost of deposits of the bank has declined while the advances yield has increased. This has resulted in the net interest margins reaching 3 per cent. The increase in net interest margins of the bank is due to its renewed focus on J&K. The compositional shifts in deposit base also resulted in improving the CASA ratio to 37.02% as against 34.17% of the previous fiscal.
Total networth enhanced by 210 crore to Rs.2009 crore from Rs.1799 crore, improving book value of Bank’s share to Rs.414.36 as against Rs.371.20 of the previous year. There has been enhancement to the shareholders value, as Earning per Share (EPS) improved to Rs.56.62 as against Rs.36.48 of the previous year.
While ensuring high quality of assets, the bank registered one of the lowest NPAs in the Industry. The net NPA of the Bank stood at 1.13% of the net Advances. NPA coverage ratio is at 61% at the end of the FY07.

J&K Bank turnover crosses 10 billion dollars

The total business turnover of J&K Bank has crossed the $10 billion mark. Registering a growth of about 12 per cent, the business turnover stood at Rs.42,274 crore as against Rs 37,968 crore in 2005-06. The total deposits were recorded at Rs.25194.29 crore. Advances increased from previous year figure of Rs.14483.11 crore to Rs.17079.94 crore as on March 31, 2007, an increase of 18 per cent.
The interest earned operating income for the quarter rose 16% to Rs 5,210.4 million as compared to Rs 4,468.2 million for the year ago quarter.
Total Income increased to Rs 5,750.2 million for the quarter ended March 2006 from Rs 4,990 million for the quarter ended March 2007.
Total income also increased to Rs 2,0595 million over Rs 1,8171 crore in the previous fiscal.
The company reported a net profit of Rs 2,744.9 million for the year ended March 2007 as compared to Rs 1,768.4 million for the year ended March 2006, a rise of 55% over the year.

There has been improved productivity during the year. Business per branch and per employee has increased to Rs.73.73 crore and Rs.6.17 crore respectively. Return on assets improved to 0.96% from 0.67% during the previous year. While efficiently managing the resources, cost of income ratio decreased to 40% from 43%. The bank has been maintaining its monopoly in spite of so many private sector banks showing their presence in the State. The arrival of other private sector banks in the state has benefited the Bank itself as now the bank faces more competition thus improving customer service.

The private and commercial banks work only for commercial purposes while as J&K Bank also works for social corporate responsibilities. J&K Bank is committed to its corporate social responsibility in which the bank would be rehabilitating certain heritage places and as a first step in this direction the Badamwari (almond garden) is being developed by the bank.The performance of the bank during the year 2006-07 has been exceptionally good exceeding the expectations of banking analysts. The new business initiatives undertaken by the bank are also bearing fruit. The key strategic shift of the bank has been to focus on J&K by increasing lending to SME’s, Horticulture related activities, and Micro Finance. This combined with better liability management has ensured that the bank’s balance sheet is fully leveraged with a credit deposit ratio of 67.79% as against 61.67% in FY06. Within J&K, the credit deposit ratio is above 50 per cent.

The financial results were recorded by the Board of Directors of the Bank which met here today.