India, Nov. 25 -- Jammu and Kashmir Bank, the biggest financial institution of the Union territory, is mulling a major leap to transform into a tech-bank and join the league of top banks with best digital infrastructure in the country. With 60 to 65% of its market share in J&K, the bank is also planning to revise its interest rates on several products, says MD Amitava Chatterjee who is completing his first year in bank in an interview with Mir Ehsan. Here are the edited excerpts The bank had been growing at a moderate level of 10% both in deposits and advances and has also made good profits. If certain instances are removed then I believe that we have been increasing our profit almost by 15 to 20%. This year we recorded good growth in agriculture and horticulture. We introduced a new product in agriculture and were able to achieve our yearly targets in two quarters. We have maintained a healthy credit deposit ratio. We are probably contributing 80 to 90% in the government sponsored schemes. As far as tourism is concerned, it directly contributes 2 to 3% of our overall portfolio. We support the hospitality industry and also have a very good product related to homestays. If you see the numbers, in spite of all that has happened in Jammu and Kashmir for the last six months, starting from the Pahalgam , we have reduced our NPA from March both in absolute terms as well as percentage terms. So, the bank has been doing well in containing and recovering the NPA's for the last so many 10, 12 and 13 quarters. I will not completely disagree with your statement but it's not the average rate of interest that's 10. 5%. It depends on which sector we are talking about. As, J&K bank has had almost a 60% market share in UT so there was no reason for the bank to rationalise interest rate. Now, we are aware about competition and market demands, we are rationalizing our interest rates and very soon align it with market. The success of the recent OTS scheme has been moderate as after its announcement several things happened here which might have compelled people to hold back. The presence of other banks is giving us the opportunity to improve. We are improving our services, delivery and our connection with people. So, I take it positively. No organisation today can survive without technology. So we are also investing in technology. My aim is to convert this bank into a tech bank and join in the league of big banks of country. It's not possible in a short span of time because technology adoption requires coordination with many stakeholders, tenders, software developers, hardware suppliers, our own teams and also following the proper processes. Our bank might have been be a little bit in the implementation but now we are going very strong. The average number of employees per branch in the industry is 10 and for our bank it's 12. So, the myth that we have a shortage isn't true. Second, if you look the other way, other data that can help you to understand that what I am saying is correct. Over a period of time we have not been rationalising the staff properly. We are in the process of rationalizing it , this will be completed in the next 3 to 6 months. There was a time when 80 to 90% market share belonged to this bank , it has come down to 60%. So our people never felt that they needed to reach out to anybody. With the new banks, the scenario is different.They are attracting the customers, whereas, out staff felt that the customers will come tothem given the legacy of the bank. We are working on changing this. We are converting our branches from service points to sales and service points. That's one project we have already undertaken and it is being implemented. I won't say that there is a slump, had there been a slump , the bank wouldn't have grown. If you look at the rate of growth of the GDP of Jammu and Kashmir, is in line with the country's GDP growth. However, there were some incidents that affected the primary sectors of this state--horticulture,tourism. So, at times the growth ishampered by these events. We used a new product in agriculture that is called YUVA. It's an entrepreneurship scheme and we are the only bank which is supporting that scheme. It's a government initiative and we are the financing partner....