J&K Bank hosts SEBI’s programme on investor education and awareness

Srinagar, July 16: J&K Bank today hosted an ‘Investor Education and Awareness Program on Securities Market’ organized by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) here at the Bank’s corporate headquarters.

Whole Time Member (WTM) of SEBI Ashwani Bhatia was the Chief Guest at the program that was attended by Bank’s MD & CEO Baldev Prakash, DGM (SEBI) Gyanendra Niraj, Regional Director (SEBI) Amit Pradhan, Chief Regulatory Officer (CRO - NSE) Ankit Sharma, Bank’s General Managers, DGMs, representatives of other banks and financial institutions operating in UT, management and customers of JKB FSL besides other senior officials from NSE, BSE and the Bank.

In his keynote address on the occasion, Ashwani Bhatia (WTM) of SEBI underscored the importance of investment in the country’s securities market, which he said is the most efficient market in the world today. He said, “Before investing money you must invest in yourself. You need to know intricacies of investment and understand where you are investing.  Studying the markets is of paramount importance.”

Citing the huge figure of India’s total market capitalization of over Rs 450 Lac Crores as against country’s total GDP of Rs 330 Lac Crores, he said, “Markets in India are growing fast and wealth in the markets is doubling every five years. It is important that we manage our money astutely and ensure our future is secured.”

Giving a detailed overview of the country’s securities market, he said that SEBI has transformed the functioning of market with a strong focus on the development and regulation of securities market on the one hand and protection of the interests of investor on the other. He said, “Markets have been made safe by SEBI, but you need to be ever-vigilant and guard against different kinds of scams that are happening round the clock. Beware of fraudsters because this is your hard earned money and you can’t get it back if you fell for ‘too good to be true offers’ easily,”

On the occasion, he also congratulated the management for the Prime Minister’s two statements regarding J&K Bank’s recent progress. He commended the initiatives taken by JKBFSL – a subsidiary of J&K Bank – for augmenting its Assets under Management (AUM) portfolio. While thanking the Bank for hosting the program, he further hailed the Bank saying, “During my stay here, I could see the incredible presence of J&K Bank’s digital banking services even in quite far off places of the valley.” Earlier, the Bank’s MD & CEO Baldev Prakash warmly received the visiting dignitary at the corporate office.

After introducing the special guest on the occasion MD & CEO said, “Having learned a lot from him throughout my career at SBI, I feel proud to say that with a profound grasp over banking, corporate -governance and market-functioning; Mr Ashwani Bhatia brings a unique blend of banking knowledge, market insights and regulatory perspective to his current position and continues to inspire leaders in the financial world across the country. And I am sure that all of us would benefit immensely from his treasure trove of knowledge and experience.”

He further said, “Today’s initiative underscores the Bank’s commitment to empower all of you with valuable guidance and insights that will enhance your confidence to navigate the markets and make informed investment decisions. So, let us take this opportunity to learn, engage and grow together.” During the course of program, MD JKB FSL Syed Adil Bashir also gave an overview of the securities market in J&K. “At JKB FSL, such awareness programs are bearing fruits and have helped us to increase our total number of Demat Accounts to 9 Lac with addition of 85000 new accounts during the last three months only. Reflecting growing confidence of investors, our Mutual Fund AUM portfolio has also reached Rs 8700 Cr in J&K”, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, CRO (NSE) Ankit Sharma stated, "Currently, we have around nine crore investors with unique IDs listed on NSE, which in term of numbers can be the 16th  most populous country in world. But for more wealth creation we need new investors to make the capital markets more robust in India”, adding that NSE has opened around 50 Investment Centres across the country to educate the investors besides registering complaints against the erring brokers and companies.

The program had a Question-Answer session, wherein the participants asked for advice on smart investing and raised many queries, which were duly responded to their satisfaction by the Key-note speaker.

The Bank’s General Manager (Credit) Ashutosh Sareen presented the vote of thanks.