The Hindu Business Line : J&K Bank to step up non-fund based income

J&K Bank, which had recently donned a new brand identity, plans to grow the share of its non-fund based income, in the total income, to 25 per cent over the next few years as part of its strategy to have a stable and secular growth in profits.

"There is high volatility in our profits. We want to have a stable and secular growth in profits and for this purpose we want to increase the share of our non-fund based income to 25 per cent," Dr Haseeb A. Drabu, Chairman and CEO of J&K Bank, said.

J&K bank had recorded a net profit of Rs 62.38 crore during April-June 2006, much higher than the net profit of Rs 22.79 crore recorded in January-March 2006 quarter. For the October-December 2005 quarter, J&K bank had registered a net profit of Rs 50.65 crore.

Dr Drabu said that he was looking at advisory services and certain financial services to step up the non-fund based income of the bank. He was quite bullish about commodities market and added that the bank plans to increase commodity-based financing in the current year.

The J&K Bank chief also said that he wanted saffron to get listed in the commodity markets. In 2005-06, the bank had recorded an all time-high business turnover of Rs 37,967.75 crore, up from Rs 33,162.11 crore in the previous year.