Srinagar, March 3: Extending its footwork beyond the state, J&K Bank today inaugurated a state-of-the-art business unit at famous Diggi Chowk in Ajmer near the shrine of great Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, which was inaugurated by Satya Pal Malik, the Governor J&K state in presence of Chairman and CEO, JK Bank Parvez Ahmed; Dr Sanjeev Agarwal Director on the Bank’s Board, Amin Pathan President Dargah & state Haj Committee, Bank’s President Dr Ashraf Ali, Vice President Fayaz Siddiqui, prominent businessmen of Ajmer & Pushkar and a large number of citizens.
The Governor along with the Chairman also visited the shrine of great Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and prayed for the peace and prosperity in the state. A cheque of Rs 11 lacs was also presented by the Bank to the Dargah Management for development works of the Dargah.
Congratulating the Bank and the people of Ajmer on opening of a new branch of the Bank the Governor Satya Pal Malik said, “The Bank is promoted by the government of J&K and has been instrumental for financial empowerment of people in the J&K state. The bank has touched new heights under the leadership of the current Chairman and with the kind of vision the Chairman has for empowering the people it is bound to grow in future too. The Bank had earlier given me an opportunity to inaugurate its 34 branches Ladakh on a single day in very challenging geography to serve the people in the far flung areas. J&K Bank represents the spirit of Jammu and Kashmir besides its rich legacy. Its spirit of service and progress is matchless in the country. With a huge experience in wealth creation in its home state, I am very optimistic about its presence here at Ajmer and confident that they will be active participants in the financial growth and development of this divine city.”
The Governor advised the management of the bank to proactively reach out to the business community irrespective of the economic scale of business as there was a lot of potential of wealth creation amongst the prosperous and simple living business community of the region of Rajasthan.He also directed the bank to work for revival of the handicraft sector by interventions like Self Help Groups to leverage the talent of the artisans.
The Chairman & CEO JK Bank Parvez Ahmed thanked the Governor J&K state for accepting the request of the Bank to inaugurate its Business Unit in this pious city of Garib Nawaz one of the most popular and widely known Sufi Shrine across the world which has always inspired the followers to pay pilgrimage and seek the blessings of revered Saint. The Bank is presently having more than 2000 delivery touch points across the country and is selectively looking for opportunities to expand its footprint to cater to the niche segments where the Bank has a fair degree of expertise.
The Bank he said is associated with all the pilgrim destinations in the state by one way or the other like being a preferred Banker to all major Shrines of J&K state by offering full cash management service, operating business Units 24*7 for providing services to the Shrine and pilgrims, registering the Yatris from all across the country through its branches, internet payment gateway services for donations on digital platform etc. The Bank he added has in the process developed a rich legacy of partnering with all other stakeholders of pilgrim tourism like the traders, vendors, hoteliers, employees, micro enterprises etc. to facilitate all with our professional and relationship based banking services.
“Now we are keen to explore the pilgrim tourism circuit of the country where we can leverage our expertise for growth of the pilgrim tourism ecosystem and it is in this context that we have opened our business unit in Ajmer today. In fact a few months from now we are opening another Business Unit at Shirdi near the Sai Baba Shrine keeping in view the growing demand of people of our state who are visiting Shirdi and also to leverage our expertise for the economic growth of important pilgrim centres.” asserted Parvez Ahmed.
Describing about the newly opened business unit the Chairman said,” In line with our people centric traditions we make every effort to identify our business units with local culture and tradition. Our Business Unit of Ajmer which has been dedicated to the public and business community of Ajmer by your enlightened hands today reflects the deep influences of the rich legacy of Ajmer Sharief and Pushkar by way of graphics and detailed Jaalis inside our premises. The Branch shall cater to the pilgrims and locals especially the business community at both the world famous Shrines besides integrating the vision of financial empowerment of the Bank with the local ecosystem and above all act as a brand ambassador of the J&K state in Ajmer”.
Delivering the vote of thanks Bank’s President Dr Ashraf Ali urged the people of Ajmer to take full advantage of the state of the art customized services of the Bank which bring a whole new world of convenience and flexibility to customers. Earlier the Bank’s Vice President and Zonal Head Delhi presented the welcome address in which he delineated a brief resume of the functioning of the Bank in the Delhi Zone comprising of more than 55 branches spread across NCR Delhi, Haryana, UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Rajasthan.
