Secretary Cooperatives Department, Yasha Mudgal today chaired a meeting to discuss the revival proposal for J&K State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank Limited (JKSCARD).At the outset, Managing Director, JKSCARD Bank, Mohammad Aslam Bhat gave a detailed presentation about the functions and working of the bank and apprised the meeting that the bank provides loans both in Farm and Non- Farm sectors for Medium and Long-Term financial support to the agriculturists and horticulturists ranging from 5 to 15 years of the Union Territory for agriculture and non-agriculture activities. The meeting was informed about the financial achievements and issues related to Bank’s functioning with respect to its financial growth and lending capacity.Speaking on the occasion, Secretary said that the main focus of the government is to strengthen cooperative banks at all levels so that the masses of J&K would be facilitated and supported through cooperative credit structure.While reviewing the present status of working and financial implications of the bank, Mudgal asked the bank management to address the financial health and discipline of the bank and achieve the set targets in timely manner.She impressed upon the management to focus on the recoveries of deposits and Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) by keeping benchmarks for 6-12 months of period.The Secretary asked the concerned bank authorities to review the rate of interests on loans as per guidelines of RBI and J&K Bank so that more and more beneficiaries are covered and benefited under the JKSCARD bank schemes.The meeting discussed the proposal for the revival of the Bank which include infusing Share Capital/ State Equity to the bank which will enable the bank to overcome the current financial crisis through loans & advances and investments.The Secretary asked the Managing Director JKSCARD to act tough against the defaulters by identifying bad performing branches to recover loans from the defaulters.Among others, Accounts Officer and other senior officers of JKSCARD Bank were present in the meeting.