Finance Minister Dr Haseeb A Drabu today called for exploring alternative fiscal models for revitalizing the Jammu Kashmir State Financial Corporation in order to make it profitable by exploiting its strong points.The Minister was speaking at the 57th Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders of the Corporation here today. The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary, Finance Department, MR Navin Kumar Choudhary, MD SFC, shareholders and other officials.The Minister said the Corporation is stressed and it needs creative thinking, innovative and collective approach to make it vibrant again. The Minister directed the officials to initiate buyback of shares from private and institutional shareholders so that SFC can be re-launched under a new model. He said the motive of having different shareholders was to encourage emergence of talent, ideas and ultimately revival of the corporation, which due to various reasons could not happen.
The Minister said that the government is in touch with various financial institutions inside as well as outside the state and a group of experts will fine tune future mode of work and collaborations for the Corporation. He said SFC has a huge potential and it can benefit both local business community as well as the government. He said that SFC can enter financial market in a combination of ways and asked the concerned officials to come up with a working paper in this regard.The Minister said that the government is hopeful that in coming 2-3 years fortunes of SFC will be revived under a new model.The meeting also discussed various other issues confronting the Corporation. The shareholders presented their suggestions before the Finance Minister. They termed their association with SFC as part of their emotions and said that they will welcome any steps that aims to revive the once important institute.