Srinagar, Jan 01: Marking a significant development in the banking and automobile sector in Jammu and Kashmir, the sales of non-commercial vehicles have seen a record surge in the year 2023 with J&K Bank providing a whopping car financing of Rs 1600 crores.
The issuance of car loans by the J&K bank has crossed Rs 16o0 crores in the year 2023 pushing the sales of private vehicles with a record percentage of financing.
The officials at the Jammu and Kashmir Bank revealed that 22000 private cars were financed by the JK bank in the year 2023 which has been the highest so far.
“J&K Bank has financed 22000 cars in 2023 which accounts to a sum of around 1600 crores of loans. This is the highest car loan provided by the JK Bank so far. Each year the sale purchase of the vehicles goes up as more and more increase is witnessed in the purchase of cars. Therefore the financial provision is directly proportional to the increase in purchase of cars,” an officer at the J&K Bank revealed.
“The financial assistance provided by the bank has pushed vehicle sales in the valley. It is now more easy and affordable for anyone to own a car of choice by availing loan assistance from J&K Bank,” he added.
J&K bank being a prominent financial institution in the region, has been financing purchase of cars resulting in a mammoth growth of the car markets in Kashmir, with thousands of new cars hitting the roads of the valley each year.
Notwithstanding the economic slump, the automobile market in Kashmir has witnessed a considerable uptick with non-commercial vehicles topping the statistical charts in recent years.
Despite the price hike prevalent in the automobile industry, an upward trend in the car sales prevails in Kashmir valley, thanks to the easily available car loans provided by the banks.
As the robust car business in the valley is gaining ground, the easily available car loans provided by the banking sector have caused quite a stir in bringing up car sales in the region.
The leading dealers of non-commercial vehicles in Kashmir Valley are of the opinion that there has been an ever-growing demand for new cars entering the markets each year. They said the markets have been up with the sale every year owing to the easy financing provided by the banking sector.
According to a statistical data provided by Regional Transport Office Srinagar, 3,51,633 new cars in have been registered in Kashmir in previous fiscal, with Srinagar city topping the list with a mammoth registration of 1,45,293 new cars, followed by district Baramulla having 43,919 new registrations. District Budgam stands third in the list with 29,129 new registrations of private cars.
The data shows that 24,016 new car registrations of private cars were recorded in Kashmir in the year 2022 till March 2023. It revealed that Srinagar recorded the highest registration of 7,686 new cars followed by Baramulla registering 3,482 new private cars. “A total of 51,927 new private cars have been registered in the year 2022 till March 2023 in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir,” the officials at RTO said.
Car dealers in the Kashmir Valley also attribute the steady demand for new vehicles to the easy availability of car loans from the banking sector.
“Most of the private cars are financed by different banks across the UT, with J&K bank topping the list”, an official at the RTO office said. He said that nearly 70 percent of private cars are financed by banks every year.
As per a survey conducted by National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in 2019-21 nearly 24 percent of the population in Jammu and Kashmir own a car which is the highest percentage in North India.
