Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. W e have our first question. It's from the line of Sahil Mahajan, an Individual Investor. Please go ahead.

Sir, I want to know about the current status of the GST notice of INR16,000 crores?

Okay. Sahil. Thanks, Sahil, for this question. That GST notice has not been pursued by the GST Council. We had already obtained a stay on the notice from the court and the court had given a time line to the GST Council to come and present their case, and t hey have not done it. So we are waiting for the court's judgment. In all probability as they have not contested the stay, so it is definitely going to be in our favor.

Okay. Thank you. And 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 three branches which were not opened last year also, we are going to add, so close to 14 branches.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ronak Daga with Kotak AMC. Please go ahead.

So sir, I can see that you have made a provision for standard assets for negative INR13 crores. So can you tell me the nature of the same?

Okay. That is a release of provision for non-fund exposures of NPA borrowers.

And sir, you mentioned something of the prudential provisions, I guess, in the opening remarks. Actually I missed the same. So can you just repeat on the same?

Okay. So that is something which we could not avoid. If you are aware that Ellaquai Dehati Bank, a Gram een Bank sponsored by State Bank of India has got amalgamated with J&K Grameen Bank and the combined entity now is called Jammu and Kashmir Grameen Bank. So, on account of the impairment of assets related to this amalgamation, the Ellaquai Dehati Bank obviously was not doing well and it had losses. So the impairment has resulted us an additional provision of INR92 crores this quarter and INR87 crores last quarter. So we have had to provide for INR180 crores. This is a onetime 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 Grameen Bank. And that too, we had a bank -- another regional rural bank being amalgamated with our Grameen Bank, whereas our Grameen Bank was doing very well before that. So this is something which -- I mean, it was a policy decision by the government, and we have accepted it. And going forward, we would want to ensure that the combined entity does well in future.

So sir, this INR180 crores you have provided in this quarter only?

No, INR92 crores this quarter and INR87 crores last quarter.

Okay. And just last one data keeping question. What is the normalized credit cost and CASA ratio that you are looking for in the near term?

The credit cost, I have always said it will be below 1%. So we do not foresee even after -- I mean, I just want to explain that to you. Even after what has happened through in this geography for the last 6 months, we have managed to reduce our NPAs, not only in percentage terms, but also in absolute terms. So 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. So the credit cost will remain low. And the second, CASA see -- CASA, we have improved slightly. And this has happened after a lot many quarters, 9 quarters. So we are into a very strong campaign for CASA growth, which has resulted in this and which is in future also is going to . We have a very strong focus on CASA growth, and we believe that we'll be able to reach the guidance number of 48%.

Okay, sir. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. 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?

Profit?

Profit?

Yes.

Normally, there is no guidance on profit. But I would say that as an investor, you won't be disappointed. And it will definitely be better than what we have recorded last year. We have been recording record profits every year. So we intend to continue with that.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. L adies 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 Daga with Kotak AMC. Please go ahead.

So sir, I can see that your margins have gone down by 16 basis points. So can you jus t throw some light on the same and how are you looking at the margins going ahead?

As I mentioned, see, the two components of margin, let's take deposits, I said that the deposit rates have now peaked. So I do not see any further increase in the deposit rates. Going forward, we'll have a better cost of deposit situation. And as far as advances are concerned, we are very actively looking at our retail credit growth. So both together and we also have certain plans and strategies for our retail credit growth in 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. So 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. So we still have a very strong portfolio -- credit portfolio, which can take care of our interest income. And also, you should consider the fact that this bank has one of the industry's best CASA ratio. So 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. That is from my end. Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Keshav Karwa with White Pine Investment Management. Please go ahead.

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. So -and also that the slippages have been under control largely. And in this geography whatever has happened, we still have the benefit of the rehabilitation package to be implemented. So I'm very sure -- see, 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. So going forward, we'll further reduce it and we intend to bring it below 3% by the end of this year.

Okay, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Naveen Chopra, an Individual Investor. Please go ahead.

Sir, my question was that in the last few calls, I remember hearing that bank was deploying IT operations. And it was mentioned that retirement of old workforce would contribute to lower cost. But I'm seeing cost -to-income ratio going up from 54% to about 60%. My qu estion 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 EDB Bank with our Gram een Bank. If we remove it, it comes down substantially. And also, the staff cost if you have a sense of the staff cost, it has gone down over a period of time. So eventually our aim is to bring down this cost -to-income ratio. This has happened because of policy decision of the government and we have accepted it. And we intend to improve upon the performance of the bank so that in future, we can write back these provisions. So 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 th e combined entity has been in operating profit this quarter and also net profit this quarter.

Got it. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be concluding the call in one minute in case of no further questions. 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, Steev 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 con tact our Investor Relations Desk . Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you. On behalf of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.