Post the Felicitation function, a Valedictory function was organised in the afternoon. Hon. Shri P. B. Acharya, Governor of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh (holding additional charge then) was invited as the Chief Guest of the function. The function was also attended by other dignitaries as the Guests of Honour viz; Hon. Shri Anandrao Adsul, MP and President, Co-op. Banks’ Employees' Union, Dr. Anita Borges (MD FRC Path)-President, SRL Diagnostic Centre, and Eminent Indian Stage and Cine Star, Shri Ashok Saraf.

The NKGSB Bank is amongst the first few co-operative banks to launch the “RuPay Platinum Debit Card” with effect from 25th July, 2017. The word ‘RuPay’ itself has a spirit of nationality in it and gives a proud patriotic feeling.

A Memorandum of Settlement covering the period 1st April, 2017 to 31st March, 2020 was entered into at Mumbai on 28th November, 2017, between the NKGSB Bank and The Co-operative Banks’ Employees' Union.

The 19th Sheth Shantaram Mangesh Kulkarni Memorial Lecture was organized on 14th October, 2017 at Pracharya B. N. Vaidya Sabhagraha. Shri Girish Kuber, Editor of Loksatta was the Chief Guest at the event who delivered a lecture on the topic “What it takes to become a Super Power.”

For the year 2017, our Director Shri Nagesh Pinge received the award for “Outstanding Contribution in the field of Internal Audit” from the Asian Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditors (ACIIA) at a function in Delhi.

Shri Chintamani Nadkarni, Managing Director of the Bank was elected as member of the Managing Committee of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) on 1st September, 2016 representing Co-operative Member Banks until the conclusion of the AGM of IBA to be held in 2019. He was also appointed as a Chairman of the IBA Committee on Urban Co-operative Banks for the year 2017-18 as also a member of the IBA Standing Committee on Retail Banking and of the Finance Committee of IBA for the year 2017-18. We at NKGSB are indeed proud of both of them for their remarkable achievement.

The Bank has also received few awards in recognition of its performance from Brihan Mumbai Nagari Sahakari Banks’ Association and from Maharashtra State Co-operative Banks’ Association, etc.

In line with the Bank’s focus on creating a Competitive advantage through Digitization, the Bank has put in place a robust Core Banking System (CBS), by making capital investment in the CBS and the Mobile and Net Banking systems. The Bank invests in technology on an ongoing basis, being the future of Banking business in India.

For efficient governance, the Board of Directors continued its extensive engagement with the top and Senior Management of the Bank during various Board and Committee meetings. Such engagements allow the Board to provide guidance to the Leadership team to ensure the Bank’s long term sustainable business strategy within the framework of regulatory compliance and Risk Management.

As on 31st March, 2018, out of the total of 1,157 employees of the Bank, 655 employees i.e. around 57% are women.

In compliance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 passed by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Bank has formed an Internal Committee to address the complaints received. The Bank also proposes to increase workshops and training programmes designed to sensitize, empower and support women in challenging situation.

NKGSB Bank’s “Vision and Mission” statement states that the conduct of its users should be fair and transparent. They are to work by adopting highest standard of professionalism, Honesty, Integrity with proper ethical and moral behavior. All are bound by the code of conduct.

The Board has also approved a “Whistle Blower Policy” providing the mechanism for reporting about unethical behavior, actual or suspected fraud or violation of conduct and ethics. It also provides an adequate safeguard against victimization of employees, who avail of this facility and also provides for direct access to the Chairman of the Audit Committee in exceptional circumstances.

The Financial Year 2017-18 was marked by critical economic conditions. Challenges arising out of impact of demonetization and implementation of GST (Goods and Services Tax) affected the business climate in the first half of the year. However, the second half of the year witnessed remonetization of the economy and smooth implementation of the GST architecture and consequently business revived to some extent.

Due to higher inflow of deposits in the second half of F.Y. 2016-17 consequent to demonetization, banks offered lower interest rates on deposits in the F.Y. 2017-18. Further, to face the challenges of the lower interest on lending and to retain good accounts, the Bank had to offer competitive rate of interest on advances. Such balancing of the interest rates, resulted in the business mix remaining more or less stagnant at ` 12,256 Cr. as against ` 12,223 Cr. in previous year. The benefit derived from reduction in cost of deposits was taken away by reduction in rate of interest on existing as well as new loans sanctioned by the Bank as well as increase in technology cost, wage revision and other administrative expenses. The Bank could however succeed in achieving marginal increase in Net Profit from ` 46.55 Cr. in the previous year to ` 48.53 Cr. in 2017-18.

Due to two critical conditions namely “Demonetization and implementation of GST” mentioned above, the NPA (Non Performing Assets) continued to remain critical and became matter of concern for the Bank. The repayment of loans by borrowers slowed down substantially. Gross NPA increased from 4.76% to 5.97% and net NPA from 2.94% to 3.66%. The Board of Directors of the Bank adopted various control measures and formed various committees at Board and Senior Management level and down below by taking various measures and legal actions on war-footing. We all at NKGSB Bank are committed to achieving a substantial business growth and controlling NPAs in the coming year.

I am grateful for the active and continuous support of all the members as well as the customers, employees, regulators and the associate partners. I am also grateful to my colleagues on the Board of the Bank for their time, contribution and support extended to me during the challenging years.

I now request you all to approve the Directors’ Report, Audited Profit and Loss account and Balance Sheet which are placed before you.