JAMMU: Jammu & Kashmir Bank stock gained sharply after the lender reported a net profit of nearly Rs 316 crore in Q4 as against a loss of Rs 294 crore in the year-ago quarter. Jammu & Kashmir Bank shares hit 20% upper circuit on stellar Q4 results.
The shares of Jammu & Kashmir Bank were locked in the 20 percent upper circuit at Rs 39.35, also its 52-week high, today after the lender posted its highest quarterly profit since March 2014. It reported a net profit of nearly Rs 316 crore in Q4 as against a loss of Rs 294 crore in the year-ago quarter. The profit was up four times on a sequential basis from Rs 65.94 crore in the December 2020 quarter. For the full year 2020-21, the bank posted a net profit of Rs 432.12 crore, while there was a net loss of Rs 1,139.41 crore in 2019-20. The lender said its net interest income increased to Rs 3,770.78 crore during the year from Rs 3,706.67 crore, while the net interest margin for the year stood at 3.64 percent.
Its Chairman and Managing Director R K Chibber said it is an outstanding turnaround in the numbers for the bank amid the devastating second wave of COVID-19 across the country. “We have successfully braved the challenges with our steely resolve, prudent balance-sheet management and effective guidance from our directors on board,” said Chibber. Also, the bank’s asset quality improved with the gross non-performing assets falling to 9.67 percent of the gross advances as of March 31, 2021, from 10.97 percent by March 2020. Net NPAs or bad loans came down to 2.95 percent from 3.48 percent. “Notably, we were able to restrict our slippages to below Rs 1,000 crore as against the proforma NPA figure of about Rs 4,600 crore disclosed in our Q3 results,” Chibber said.
On the business growth, J&K Bank said advances and deposits in the union territory have jumped 15.8 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively, despite the economic slowdown across the country. The bank is well-positioned to gain momentum and follows its trajectory of growth in coming quarters, the MD added.
