Furthering its mission of teaming up with the eminent institutions of the J&K and Ladakh UTs for creating and grooming aspirational and enterprising youth into excellent intellectual resource pools that would drive the socio-economic development of the twin UTs through innovation and entrepreneurial ventures, the premier financial institution of the UT, J&K Bank inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Jammu whereby, in addition to the preferred Banker-Customer relationship, the two institutions have joined hands for a collaborative model for creating synergies towards accelerated growth, promotion of entrepreneurship, knowledge exchange, Industry-Academia partnership for betterment of society. The MoU was signed by MD & CEO Shri Baldev Prakash on behalf of J&K Bank while as Dr B S Sahay put in his signatures on the draft as Director IIM Jammu here at Convention Centre Circuit house Jammu in presence of Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta (IAS) ,who joined the function through Video Conferencing, Director AIIMS Jammu Dr Shakti Gupta, IIT Jammu representative Prof. Kannan Iyer, and ADGP Jammu Shri Mukesh Singh, IPS.

The Bank, as per the agreement, will set up a full-fledged branch within the IIM Jammu Campus with a Digital Lounge, offer customized personal loan products including education loans at concessional rates to the employees and students of IIM being made available through digital channels like m-Pay / e-Banking (phone-pe-loan) in real quick time. A dedicated online collection platform enabled with multiple modes of payment options for online/offline payments for students of IIM and people at large will also be provided to the institute under the tie-up. In addition, J&K Bank will also sponsor Achievers Gold Medals to felicitate the bright students of the institute.

The signing of the MoU coincided with the Inaugural Ceremony of Orientation Program of various batches of MBA Programs at IIM Jammu wherein MD & CEO of the Bank Shri Baldev Prakash delivered the key-note address to the students and scholars present on the occasion.

In his key-note address Shri Baldev Prakash expressed his immense pleasure observing the transformation of IIM Jammu, a third generation IIM established just over five years ago, having been able to mature and catch up with its pioneer institutions very fast in terms of innovation, talent and zeal for success and contribution in management studies. In the words of the MD & CEO “The agility with which IIM Jammu has envisioned and manifested the innovative courses not only on a standalone basis but also by partnering with IIT Jammu & AIIMS Jammu is commendable and I congratulate the leadership and entire team at IIM Jammu”.

He also expressed his deep sense of gratitude to the UT administration under the leadership of Hon’ble LG, which he said, is acting as a catalyst for development, stating, “A new era of development and progress has begun for the entire UT with the coming of the best institutions to J&K.”

Referring to the collaboration, he affirmed that the two institutions strongly support endeavors which can build Industry-Academia partnerships to create unique models of engagement, bring the latest knowledge and trends emerging across the globe and create an opportunity which can lead to unleashing the potential of the region towards growth and industrial expansion.

Briefly talking about the Bank, he informed the gathering that J&K Bank was not functioning just as a Commercial Bank, but as an important stakeholder in the socio-economic development of Jammu, Kashmir & Ladakh besides being the second largest employer in the twin UTs, doing business with maximum social impact in line with its motto of Serving to Empower.

Stressing upon the growing role of technology in our lives, MD & CEO Baldev Prakash Said, “We are now living in one of the greatest inflexion points in the history of this planet where the growth in technology is the driver of change which is expanding at an exponential rate especially post COVID the change is happening at a speed much faster than we can imagine.”

Notably, according to the agreed terms of the MoU, IIM Jammu will also help the J&K Bank in various areas of its talent and organization development offering part-time Ph.D. Programs, Executive MBA in Blended Mode and other competency development Programs for different levels of executives including Advanced Management Programs (AMP) for Leadership Development, Senior Management Programs (SMPs), Management Development Programs (MDPs) for Middle Management level and Executive Development Programs (EDPs) for others.