Srinagar: The newly elected executive body of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) Saturday called upon Chairman and CEO J&K Bank Parvez Ahmad at Corporate Headquarters.
The chairman felicitated the elected members led by President KCCI Javed Ahmed Tenga, for getting elected to the premier business chamber of valley in recently held elections.
Interacting with the office bearers, Chairman and CEO Parvez Ahmad said, “There is a lot of synergy between chamber and the bank. We would continue to work in close coordination and explore and exploit the under-serviced and potential sectors of the economy to strengthen the economy and increase employment opportunities for the local youth”.
“This elected body has taken over the reins of chamber at a crucial time and have to play an important role in reviving the economy of the state,” he added.
Among numerous issues discussed during the meeting, Chairman announced to set up a coordination committee comprising of the Bank and KCCI members which shall oversee the issues faced by the traders and also to explore the common areas of interest. “Also a technical committee will address the issues faced by traders in validating the Detailed Project Reports (DPR)”, said Chairman.
The chairman stressed upon the need to encourage entrepreneurship in those sectors which will strengthen local economy in the given circumstances like the potential available in import substitution, which has been estimated at Rs40,000 crore. “Let’s encourage the young entrepreneurs to enter into franchise with reputed brands across India. At the same time, we need to cultivate a rich credit culture among the businesses in the state so that confidence based lending is strengthened. During the last one year, we have strengthened the credit portfolio in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the bank has disbursed credit to the tune of Rs.3900 crore in J&K state, taking our total outstanding credit in the state to over 29500 crore as on date, constituting 52% of the total credit portfolio of the bank”.
“In line with our business strategy, our focus has been to exploit the potential sectors like horticulture, handicrafts and tourism. Our exposure in apple finance has increased to almost Rs.3000 Crore in last 3 years benefiting around 170000 growers,” the chairman said.
The members of KCCI also apprised the chairman of the issues faced by tourism sector since the unrest of 2016 and requested for specific measures. “The negative publicity has to be countered by the tourism players and we will also like to play our part in helping the people associated with hospitality sector,” said Parvez Ahmed.
The KCCI requested the bank to leverage the credit guarantee fund scheme in an improved manner and also urged the bank to bring more improvement in its customer service at various levels.
The meeting was also attended by KCCI Sr. Vice President Nasir Hamid Khan, General Secretary Dr. Gazala Amin, Joint Secretary Muzaffar Majid Jan, Junior Vice President Fayaz Ahmad Punjabi and Treasurer Sheikh Imran. Also Sr. President Abdul Rashid, President Abdul Rashid Shegan, President P K Tickoo and Vice President Fayaz Ahmad Zargar were present.
