J&K Bank (interview): from a Rs 1,200 crore loss in 2020 to record FY26 profit

In an interview with The Economic Times, published in May 2026, J&K Bank MD and CEO Amitava Chatterjee describes the bank's recovery. He says the bank was "at its lowest in 2020", when it posted a loss of Rs 1,200 crore, and that its non-performing assets then stood at 8 to 10 percent. He traces many of the bad accounts back to around 2014-15.

Chatterjee says the governance structure changed after that low point: a "very sound and prudent board" was constituted and discipline instilled, with support from the government of Jammu & Kashmir, the bank's major shareholder. The operating focus was on recoveries and on discipline in provisioning. In his account, most of the old large bad accounts are now fully provided for or written off, and continued recoveries on them have added to profits.

He says the journey turned upward from 2021-22. For FY26 the bank recorded its highest-ever profit, around Rs 2,363.47 crore, with gross NPAs at 2.5 percent. He also describes a cultural fix: the bank long enjoyed a near-monopoly in the region, its branches grew complacent about customers, and they are now run "more of a sales unit than a service unit" as competition has arrived.

These figures and the account of causes come from the CEO himself in the interview; the article gives no independent verification.

FY26 profit of about Rs 2,363.47 crore, the bank's highest ever (self-reported); gross NPAs down to 2.5 percent.

The bank was loss-making in 2020 and carried legacy bad loans (NPAs of 8 to 10 percent), so the first task was cleaning the book.

A reconstituted board and a stricter provisioning discipline replaced the earlier governance, according to the CEO.

Sustained recoveries on old accounts, many already provided for or written off, flowed into profit.

Branches that had grown complacent in a market with few rivals were pushed toward selling and service as competitors arrived.

State support from the Jammu & Kashmir government, as majority shareholder, helped the bank through the turnaround, per the CEO.

A bank buried in legacy bad loans can recover through a new board, relentless recoveries and strict provisioning, but a protected market breeds complacent branches.

The CEO says the bank's regulatory rating has gone up two notches over four to five years and RBI observations have almost halved, while the bank adopted CVC and RTI oversight voluntarily. Open problems he names: a downward trend in deposits as savers move to mutual funds, cyber threats, mule accounts, past loan frauds, and customer service. He says some accounts were lost two years ago and many have come back in the last year.