Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to the Q2 FY 2026 conference call of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing the star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. We have with us from the bank Mr. Amitava Chatterjee, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, along with his management team. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Chatterjee. Thank you and over to you, sir. Thank you very much, Steve. A very good evening and a warm welcome to all the investors, analysts, and other stakeholders joining us today for the Jammu and Kashmir Bank September 2025 earnings call. First of all, let me introduce my fellow colleagues from the bank's senior management who are accompanying me on this call: Executive Director Shishudhir Gupta, our new Chief General Managers Mr. Sunit Kumar and Mr. Imtiaz Ahmad Bhatt, Retail Banking Head Mr. Rakesh Magotra, Corporate Banking Head Mr. Nishikant Sharma, Impaired Assets Portfolio Management Head Mr. Rajesh Madla Tikhu, Chief Financial Officer Mr. Ketan Kumar Joshi, Chief Risk Officer Mr. Antaab Hussain Kira, and our Treasury Head Mr. Ajay Kohli. The Indian economy has exhibited marked resilience in Q1 of FY 2026 with a better-than-expected real GDP growth of 7.8%, reaching a five-quarter high with a dual engine of growth: consumption and investment remaining strong even though global uncertainty remains elevated in the wake of geopolitical tensions and renewed tariff-related frictions among major trading blocs. Acknowledging India's consistent outperformance amidst this challenging global environment, IMF has increased India's growth projections by 20 bps to 6.6% for 2025, while also revising the global growth forecast upwards to 3.2% for FY 2025. With the domestic economy picking up momentum, the bank has also recorded a substantial improvement in its business numbers, with deposits growing by 2.4% sequentially and advances recording a 3.9% sequential growth. On a YOY basis, the bank has recorded a deposit growth of 10.2% and advances growth of 9.4%, which is broadly in alignment with our overall YOY deposit growth of 9.5% and advances growth of 10.3% recorded by all scheduled banks as on 19 September 2025, as per the latest data published by RBI. One of the highlights of this quarter has been the growth in KASA deposits at 2.8%, outpacing the growth in term deposits at 2%, resulting in an improvement in the bank's KASA ratio from 45.71% recorded on June 30, 2025, to 45.89% as on September 30, 2025. Even though the improvement may seem marginal, however, it is remarkable considering that it is after a period of nine consecutive quarters that the bank has witnessed an improvement in its KASA ratio on a sequential basis, and it comes at a time when the industry KASA ratio has fallen from a 25-year high of over 42% in March 2022 to around 36% in June 2025, as per a CRISIL report. On the advances side, the rest of India book has recorded a YOY growth of 16.1% against a growth of 5.9% in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which is in alignment with the bank's vision of achieving a 50/50 split of the loan book between JKL and ROI over the medium to long term. Quarterly numbers also present a similar trend, with Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh recording a loan growth of 2.8%, whereas the rest of India, which at present contributes to around 30% of the total loan book of the bank, has recorded a growth of 6% for the same period. Sector-wise, corporate and agriculture, which together constitute around 40% of the bank's loan portfolio, have been the best performers, both on a YOY and a sequential basis, witnessing a growth of 11.7% and 27.4% YOY respectively. In personal finance, which alone constitutes around 38% of the loan book, YOY growth is 6.9%. Within personal finance also, the rest of India growth at 12.9% YOY is more than double that of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh; that is 6.2%. Again, in line with our plans of expanding our retail footprints across the rest of the country, major growth contributors in the personal loans category are housing and car loans, constituting roughly half of the personal loan portfolio, with both recording a double-digit YOY growth in the rest of India geographical division. Profitability for the quarter has moderated on a YOY basis, in line with broader industry trends, though sequential performance has still marginally improved, with net profit for this quarter being recorded at INR 494 crore with a 1.9% QOQ growth, despite a substantially lower TWO recovery in this quarter. The moderation in profitability across the industry has been brought about by the pressure on margins, as expected, after RBI's cumulative rate cuts of 100 bps, with our NIM also contracting to 3.56% for this quarter against 3.90% for the same period in the previous year. The contraction in NIM has been brought about by faster transmission of rate cuts on the lending side compared to the transmission on liabilities side, as well as due to migration of KASA balances to term deposits. As per the RBI bulletin of September 2025, whereas the weighted average lending rate on outstanding rupee loans of scheduled commercial banks for the period February to August 2025 declined by 49 bps, weighted average domestic term deposit rate on outstanding term deposits had declined by 17 basis points only. The impact is evident in our case also, with our yield on advances declining to 9.20% for this quarter against 9.57% YOY and cost of deposits being recorded at 4.86% for this quarter. However, we believe that the cost of deposits has now peaked and NIM has bottomed out unless there is a further reported cut. Besides the aforementioned factors, which have had an industry-wide impact, our profitability in this quarter has been impacted due to reduction of other income on account of impairment provision of INR 92 crore on our investment in Jammu and Kashmir Grameen Bank, in addition to the provision of INR 87 crore made in the previous quarter. Despite taking this one-off hit of INR 180 crore during this half year, we have still posted a YOY growth of 1.3% in our half-yearly net profit. If we exclude the impact of INR 180 crore, our net profit growth for the first half year would have been around 20% YOY without considering tax impact. On the cost side, our operating costs for the quarter continue to be well under control, with just a marginal 2.2% YOY growth. GNPA has not only been contained but reduced to 3.32%, with GNPA on absolute terms also reducing sequentially, and gross slippage ratio for the quarter on an annualized basis being below 0.90%, which is pleasing and should allay concerns around asset quality, especially in light of the disturbances affecting our core geography in the first quarter, followed by natural calamities, floods, and landslides in the second quarter. Consequentially, net NPA has also been reduced to 0.76%, while provision coverage ratio continues to be healthy above 90%. It is pertinent to mention here that post-declaration of the unfortunate Pahalgam incident and subsequent conflict as disturbances across the UT of J&K by the government of J&K on recommendations of the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory Level Bankers Committee, the bank has formulated a special rehabilitation package for the affected borrowers, wherein the borrowers can avail relief by way of extension of repayment period, interest funding, moratorium, and additional working capital. CRAR has been recorded at 15.27% with CET1 at 12.11%. This is without reckoning the net profits of half year, which has an incremental impact of more than 90 basis points. Due to the hit of INR 180 crore on account of impairment provision, the annualized return on assets and return on equity for the half year have been recorded below our guided range at 1.17% and 14.52% respectively. Consequentially, we are revising our guidance for ROA and ROE for the current financial year to reflect this exceptional and unforeseen substantial impairment provision. However, excluding this one-off item, our underlying operating performance and upward core profitability trajectory remains intact. The market guidance for FY 2025-2026: Credit growth 12%, deposit 12%, KASA 48%, NIM 3.65% to 3.70%, ROA 1.20% to 1.25%, ROE 15% to 16%, GNPA below 3%. Thank you for your time today on a Saturday evening. We appreciate your continued interest and support. We can start the session now. Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. We kindly ask that you limit your questions to two per person so that everybody gets an opportunity. You can join back the queue for any follow-up questions, and if the time permits, we can take the additional questions later on. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. Participants, if you wish to ask a question to the management, you may press star and one. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. Participants, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. We have a first question. It's from the line of Sahil Mahajan, an individual investor. Please go ahead. Okay. Sahil, thanks, Sahil, for this question. That GST notice has not been pursued by the GST counsel. We had already obtained a stay on the notice from the court, and the court had given a timeline to the GST counsel to come and present their case, and they have not done it. We are waiting for the court's judgment. In all probability, since they have not contested the stay, it is definitely going to be in our favor. Thank you. What is the number of branches going to open in this financial year? Any idea? We have approximately, just a second, we have a plan to open 11 branches this year, and 3 branches which were not opened last year also we are going to add, so close to 14 branches. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. The next question comes from the line of Ronak Dhaka with Kotak KMC. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I can see that you have made a provision for standard assets for negative INR 13 crore. Can you tell me the nature of the same? The release of provision for non-fund exposure of NPA borrowers. Okay, that is a release of provision for non-fund exposures of NPA borrowers. Sir, you mentioned something about the prudential provisions, I guess, in the opening remarks. Actually, I missed the same. Can you just repeat on the same? Okay. That is something which we could not avoid. If you are aware, Ellaquai Dehati Bank, a Grameen bank sponsored by State Bank of India, has got merged with J&K Grameen Bank, and the combined entity now is called Jammu and Kashmir Grameen Bank. On account of the impairment of assets related to this merger, this Ellaquai Dehati Bank obviously was not doing well, and it had losses. The impairment has resulted as an additional provision of INR 92 crore this quarter and INR 87 crore last quarter. We have had to provide for INR 180 crore. This is a one-time event, and this was something which, I mean, if you want to know, we are the only private sector bank in the country which has a Grameen bank, and no other private sector bank has a Grameen bank. We had another regional rural bank being merged with our Grameen bank, whereas our Grameen bank was doing very well before that. This is something which, I mean, it was a policy decision by the government, and we have accepted it. Going forward, we would want to ensure that the combined entity does well in the future. Sir, this INR 180 crore you have provided in this quarter only? INR 92 crore this quarter and INR 87 crore last quarter. Okay. Just last one data-taking question. What is the normalized credit cost and KASA ratio that you are looking for in the near term? The credit cost, I have always said, it will be below 1%. We do not foresee, even after—I mean, I just want to explain that to you—even after what has happened in this geography for the last six months, we have managed to reduce our NPAs, not only in percentage terms but also in absolute terms. The credit cost, as I've always maintained, will be fairly low, although there is some stress because of the natural calamities, which, again, we have the opportunity through the rehab program to ensure that they do not turn into NPAs. The credit cost will remain low. The second, KASA—see, KASA, we have improved slightly. This has happened after many, eight quarters, I suppose, nine quarters. We are into a very strong campaign for KASA growth, which has resulted in this, and which in future also is going to—we have a very strong focus in KASA growth, and we believe that we'll be able to reach the guidance number of 38%. Okay, sir. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you. A reminder to all participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. We have a follow-up question. It's from the line of Sahil Mahajan, an individual investor. Please go ahead. I want to know if there is any guidance on the total profit in this financial year. Please come again. Total? The profit. Profit? Yeah, yeah. Normally, there is no guidance on profit, but I would say that, as an investor, you won't be disappointed. It will definitely be better than what we have. We have been recording record profits every year, so we intend to continue with that. For the last three years, it has been the highest ever. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will be concluding the call in one minute in case of no further questions. We have a follow-up. It's from the line of Ronak Dhaka with Kotak KMC. Please go ahead. Thank you for the opportunity again. Sir, I can see that your margins have gone down by 16 basis points. Can you just throw some light on the same and how are you looking at the margins going ahead? As I mentioned, the two components of margin, let's say take deposits. I said that the deposit rates have now peaked. I do not see any further increase in the deposit rates. Going forward, we'll have a better cost of deposit situation. As far as advances are concerned, we are very actively looking at our retail credit growth. Both together, and we also have certain plans and strategies for our retail credit growth in the rest of India, which, again, I mentioned that it has shown a very good improvement in the last quarter. We intend to continue with that. It has come down. If you consider, the repo rate cut has been 1%, that is 100 basis points, considering that our hit on the NIM has been lower than that, right? We still have a very strong portfolio, credit portfolio, which can take care of our interest income. You should also consider the fact that this bank has one of the industry's best KASA ratio. Coupled with all these things put together, I think we will be meeting the annual guidance that we have given of more than 3.6%. Okay. Got it, sir. That is from my end. Thank you. Thank you, Ronak. The next question comes from the line of Kesha Karva with White Pine Investment Management. Please go ahead. Sir, thank you for the opportunity. I just wanted to know your strategy of how are you seeing the asset quality shaping up in H2? See, I will stick to the guidance of NPA level less than 3%. I have a very strong pipeline of assets which are under resolution, and also the slippages have been under control largely. In this geography, whatever has happened, we still have the benefit of the rehabilitation package to be implemented. I am very sure, even in this quarter, when all things looked very bleak, very gloomy, we have reduced our NPA not only in percentage terms but also in absolute terms. Going forward, we'll further reduce, and we intend to bring it below 3% by the end of this year. Okay, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Naveen Chopra, an individual investor. Please go ahead. Yeah. My question was that in the last few calls, I had remembered hearing that the bank was deploying IT in operations, and it was mentioned that retirement of old workforce would contribute to lower cost. I'm seeing a cost-to-income ratio going up from 54% to about 60%. My question was, what's driving this, and what's the outlook for the rest of the year? See, I mentioned, the cost-to-income ratio has gone up on account of the provision that we had to make for the merger of Ellaquai Dehati Bank with our Grameen Bank. If we remove it, it comes down substantially. Also, the staff cost, if you have a sense of the staff cost, it has gone down over a period of time. Eventually, our aim is to bring down this cost-to-income ratio. This has happened because of a policy decision of the government, and we have accepted it. We intend to improve upon the performance of the bank so that in the future, we can write back these provisions. That is our intent. We do not want to cry about it. We want to work on it. We want to improve, and we have already started the journey, and the combined entity has been in operating profit this quarter. Net profit of H2 is excellent also. Net profit this quarter. It was a national demography. This quarter. Right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be concluding the call in one minute in case of no further questions. Thank you. Thank you. As Thank you. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Amitava Chatterjee for closing remarks. Thank you, Steve, and thanks to all the participants for joining in today. Before we conclude, I would like to wish all of you a very happy and prosperous Diwali. For any further questions or queries, you can contact our investor relations desk. Thank you. Thank you very much.