Crisis to clarity Kangra bank charts path to recovery

In a decisive move to restore depositor and stakeholder confidence, Zafar Iqbal, the newly appointed Managing Director of Kangra Central Co-operative Bank Ltd (KCCB), held his first press conference in months at the bank’s headquarters.

The briefing comes at a critical juncture, following the suspension of the Bank’s Chairman and Board of Directors on September 12 by the state government. The action followed a scathing inspection report from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) that highlighted serious irregularities in the bank’s functioning. The widely publicised One-Time Settlement (OTS) issue had further fueled stakeholder uncertainty.

With no Chairman currently in place, administrative oversight of the bank is temporarily handled by Vinod Kumar, former MD of KCCB and current Divisional Commissioner of Kangra. Zafar Iqbal, who also serves as Commissioner of Dharamsala MC, outlined a comprehensive overview of the bank’s financial trajectory since 2022. Highlighting key statistics, he revealed that Non-Performing Assets have decreased to Rs 809 crore, with Rs 651 crore provisioned as a buffer.