J&K Bank’s NPAs down to 3.37%; registers 2.29 lakh accounts. SBI registers 1.27 lakh, HDFC Bank 39,096

Srinagar: Principal Secretary, Finance, Santosh D. Vaidya today highlighted the performance of J&K Bank at a review meeting in Srinagar, stating that it had achieved an 11% year-on-year growth in its business, significantly reduced its Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) to 3.37%, and brought down its cost-to-income ratio to 58% from the earlier 71%.

He appreciated the bank administration for these achievements and termed the performance as satisfactory and commendable.

Managing Director, J&K Bank, Amitava Chatterjee, also shared important statistics on the implementation of social security schemes across the UT. As the lead bank and Convenor of UTLBC, he detailed the bank’s efforts to popularize financial inclusion schemes and expand credit outreachto the priority sectors.
He pointed out that the latest statistics clearly reflect significant improvement over the figures presented in the previous review meeting held under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary. He pointed out that the UT has recorded significant strides in financial inclusion and social welfare coverage as per the performance data for various centrally sponsored schemes thereby highlighting the growing participation of citizens and strong involvement by banking institutions here.

In its presentation the Convenor UTLBC, Rayees Maqbool revealed that J&K currently hosts 2,197 brick-and-mortar bank branches in addition to 5,135 Banking Correspondents (BCs) and a network of 2,661 ATMs operated by 37 banks and financial institutions ensuring that one banking touch point is available per 1,227 of population.

The meeting was apprised that efforts are underway to fully cover the remaining 21 URCs identified by RBI here under tier 5 areas (population under 5,000) with banking touch points. It was given out that 150 additional Gram Panchayats are scheduled to be covered by May 15, 2025, by J&K Bank.

Regarding the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), an accident insurance scheme for citizens aged 18–70 years saw 6.04 lakh enrollments during FY 2024–25; reaching the cumulative coverage of 23.57 lakh beneficiaries in the UT.

About the performance J&K Bank had registered 2.29 lakh accounts, SBI (1.27 lakh), and HDFC Bank (39,096) with 285 claims settled with Rs. 5.69 Cr disbursed during the year.
With respect to Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) offering life insurance for citizens aged 18–50 years an impressive number of 2.47 lakh new enrolments were done during the previous financial year with cumulative coverage reached 9.67 lakh and settlement of 668 claims with Rs. 13.34 Cr disbursed during the previous financial year.

Atal Pension Yojana (APY)targeting unorganized workers also registered an significant progress with 24,230 new account openings, cumulatively reaching 2.48 lakh accounts since inception.

As far as the priority sector lending is concerned under the Annual Credit Plan 2024–25, J&K’s banks collectively achieved 92% of the credit disbursement target, totaling Rs. 36,575 Cr. J&K Bank emerged as the top contributor, surpassing targets at 139% for physical targets and 134% in credit volume. The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector absorbed Rs. 22,688 Cr, accounting for 62% of priority sector lending. A total of 2.96 lakh accounts were supported with J&K Bank leading the table with Rs. 5,537 Cr disbursements in this sector.

The meeting was informed that the agriculture sector too received focused attention with Rs. 6,430 Cr disbursement out of a target of Rs. 11,056 Cr, achieving nearly 58% of the set goal.

Under PM Mudra and PM Vishwakarma Yojana aiming at empowering the entrepreneurs as on March 31, 2025 substantial disbursements were made under Shishu, Kishor, and Tarun categories providing support to small entrepreneurs, women, and youth-led micro businesses

It was added that under PM Vishwakarma Yojana, growing traction was observed across various trades. The RSETI performance in skilling of rural masses (since 2009) depicted training of 1,07,672 trainees, and starting of 78,059 ventures (72.5%), and nearly 50% beneficiaries availing bank credit to start their respective enterprises.