Early Times Report
Srinagar, July 3: The recent resignation of three directors of J&K Bank under mysterious circumstances is feared to hit the bank market at stock exchanges.
Highly placed sources said J&K Bank has formally informed country's oldest and biggest stock exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) about the resignation of its three key directors.
On June 29, the bank said three of its directors of the board have resigned from their positions citing "personal reasons." The trio is Dalip Kumar Kaul, Khaver Alam Jeelani and Vikrant Kuthiala.
Even as on the day they resigned, the J&K Bank stock closed 2.05 per cent higher at Rs 69.65 on BSE, market pundits are apprehensive of business in the coming days.
"See once the stock exchange is formally informed about such decisions, there's a bad affect on the company shares. This has been a natural process," explained an economist.
He said though local investors mainly remain unnerved by resignations of directors the development would have huge impact on the "Foreign Institutional Investors."
"It will definitely have a very bad impact on Foreign Institutional Investors, who are next to government in major share holdings at J&K Bank… Local investors may not be taking it seriously but Foreign Institutional Investors are serious towards such trends," he added.
Srinagar-headquartered state-run bank in a regulatory filing said that "three directors have tendered their resignations from the Directorships of the Bank due to personal reasons with effect from June 29, 2016".
All the three has been prominent faces. Officials said Dalip is a Managing Partner of Baweja & Kaul, a firm of Chartered Accountants. A Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), he has a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce (Honours) and LLB from University of Delhi.
Likewise Khaver, is CEO of Hotel Highlands Park, Gulmarg. Prior to this he was associated with Morgan Stanley Investment Management (London) from the year 2002 to 2007.
Vikrant Kuthiala, on the other hand, officials said, is B Com (Hons) from Hindu College, Delhi University.
A prominent Businessman from Jammu with interests in steel manufacturing and hydel projects, he is also representing on the committees of various academic and professional organizations.
With three prominent faces having resigned in one gone all of sudden, observers said, aftershocks are expected.
As of now the bank has seven directors on its Board. Of these, one is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mushtaq Ahmad.
Among others are three independent directors -- Azhar-ul-Amin, Masooda Jabeen and Rakesh Kumar Gupta.
One RBI nominee-JP Sharma and two non-executive directors- Abdul Majid Mir and Navin Kumar Choudhary.
Though the bank is tight-lipped over actual reasons behind the resignations, sources the trio had strained relationship with the bank top brass and thus finally called it a day. |
