Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 31: Recounting the pivotal role of J&K State Financial Corporation (SFC) in the development of the first generation entrepreneurship through term loan financing of projects in the fields of Small Scale Industry, tourism and transport, the Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs, Abdul Rahim Rather today expressed optimism about its re-emergence as a vibrant financial entity.
Speaking at the 51st Annual General Meeting of the shareholders of J&K State Finance Corporation, Mr. Rather said that the Corporation used to be a premier financing institution of State and woved to restore it’s old glory by reviving the functioning to enable it to resume its developmental role of funding the expanding needs of transport, tourism and MSME.
Mr. Rather, who is also chairman of the Corporation, said that upto 2009, when the present Government took over, the Corporation was at the brink of extinction as it had not only lost its entire capital base but also acquired a heavily negative worth. He said strenuous efforts were made by the Government since last 4 years to implement a pragmatic revival plan for the Corporation which have paid rich dividends. He said components of the revival plan included updating of procedures and the process of sanctioning and disbursement of loans and monitoring of their recoveries, in tune with the current market needs and put in place hassle-free delivery services.
“The negotiations with SIDBI for settlement of long pending liabilities, which had reached unmanageable proportions also yielded positive response”, Mr. Rather added. He said that the State Government also came to the rescue of the Corporation and provided massive recapitalization support for redemption of the Corporation’s huge liabilities.
All these measures resulted in the recovery of the outstanding dues and the activity of lending which started from 2010-11, Mr. Rather added.
Mr. Rather said that the One-Time Settlement Scheme (OTS) announced in 2010 enabled the Corporation to recover an amount of Rs. 14.64 crore and also sanctioning of loans to the tune of Rs. 10.15 crore. The Corporation earned an income of Rs. 336 lakh and incurred an expenditure of Rs. 1138.43 lakh during the first year of its revival (2010-11). He said on the plea of State Government, the Prime Minister’s Task Force on MSME also recommended grants to the tune of Rs. 150 crore for revival of Industries in J&K through State Finance Corporation. Later on, these Task Force recommendations were also endorsed by the Dr. Rangarajan Committee on creation of job opportunities in J&K.
Mr. Rather announced, with optimism that the Corporation whose net worth had gone down to a negative figure of Rs. 104.58 crore as on 31-3-2009, is now coming out of red and is going to turn positive very shortly.
The Managing Director of SFC, A.R Makroo in his welcome address presented an overview of the activities of the Corporation and assured that the management will come upto the expectations of both stakeholders as well as the State Government.
AGM, SIDBI, Anuj Jan, DGM, PNB, A.K Gupta, Akil Chopra, Anil Suri, Prof Nissar Ali, Er. Zahoor Ahmad, B. C Thakar and other shareholders and concerned officers were also present in the meeting.
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