‘No RBI control over J&K Bank’

The arrangement of Jammu and Kashmir Bank (JKB) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will have no repercussions on the functioning of the bank, said its chairman Mushtaq Ahmed on Wednesday.

He also said that it is not true that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has total control over JKB.

At a press conference in Srinagar, Ahmed refuted these allegations that JKB after becoming the agent of the RBI has lost its decision making powers.

“No dilution has taken place. There is no control of RBI over JKB. The agreement with the Central Bank was a win-win situation for us and via this arrangement we were able to free ourselves from many burdens,” Ahmed said.

Without mentioning the name of the former chairman of the JKB, Haseeb Drabu, Ahmed said that it was he who had proposed this sort of arrangement in a finance commission meeting and now it is beyond his understanding ‘why the same fellow criticizes this arrangement’.

Pertinently, sacked chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Haseeb Drabu had termed the state government?s decision to shift banking operations with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an act of demolishing the only vital pillar from under the edifice of autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir.

While talking about the achievements of the JKB, the chairman said that by March 2013, JKB will do a business of Rs. 100,000 crore while its targeting profit will be Rs. 1000 crore.

He said that empowerment of the people through economic well being has been the mission of J&K Bank.

“The policies and the plans of the Bank are aimed at socio-economic development of the J&K state through active participation in employment generation and poverty alleviation programmes,” Ahmed said.