STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Bank on Thursday announced restructuring of loan payments, including funding the interest, for its customers in the state who are hit by five-month unrest in the valley.
The Jammu and Kashmir Bank shall fund the interest due from the borrowers while deferring the principal repayments in the loan accounts up to a maximum period of 18 months, till December 2017, chairman of the bank Parvaiz Ahmad said.
He said the bank has also substantially reduced the rate of interest to be charged during the ‘repayment holiday’ on interest funding to 9.5 per cent per annum.
“Additional finance will be sanctioned to the affected borrowers up to a maximum of 20 per cent of their existing limits at concessional rate of interest.
The farmers who have suffered losses to their crops to the extent of 33 per cent or more are also covered in the package,” the chairman added.
He said the package shall be applicable till February 2017 in accordance with the RBI approval and the borrowers can avail the benefits of the relief package during the applicable period from their respective branches.
“This is the time to hand-hold our customers and provide them the much needed impetus to put their businesses back on the path of recovery and growth.
The rehabilitation package was adopted by the board of directors of the bank in a meeting held today,” he said.
The package was finalised after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave its approval to the J&K SLBC proposal of restructuring the loans of affected borrowers.
“The package was customized to not just alleviating the pain of our borrowers by providing the repayment holiday with reduced interest burden but with the provision for additional need-based working capital finance,” Ahmad said.
He also said the bank has tried to ensure that the whole process is made hassle free for the borrowers, whose businesses have been derailed by the long spell of disruption in the valley.
The chairman conveyed his gratitude to the state government, the RBI and the business community who whole heartedly supported the efforts of Jammu and Kashmir Bank as Convener of the SLBC to provide the much needed rehabilitation package necessary for the revival of businesses in the state.
