Andhra Bank to expand network in North

Ruchika M. Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 3

Andhra Bank is planning a major expansion of its operations in the northern and western part of the country. The bank will open 60% of its new branches in these geographies in the next fiscal.

The bank, which has received a capital infusion of Rs 120 crore from the Central Government, is looking at growth in the agriculture and SME sector advances.

Through the expansion in its branch network and portfolio, the bank is looking at a two-digit growth in the next fiscal.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Andhra Bank CMD CVR Rajendran said for the past one year, the bank had been aggressive about expanding its business in North and West. “We have 1,200 branches in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and another 100 branches in the neighbouring states. In North, we will expand and in South, we will consolidate our business. Of the 500 branches we propose to open next year, 300 will be opened in these areas,” he said.

The bank has set up six new zonal offices at Pune, Gujarat, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Patna and Bhopal. Each zone is mandated to take up the number of branches in the region to 100 each, and after 100 branches are opened, that particular zone will be bifurcated.

The CMD said though the bank had maximum exposure in the infrastructure sector, it was now curtailing advances in this sector because of high NPAs.

“The bank’s NPAs have reached 6%, which includes 1.5% in agriculture and 1.5% in infrastructure. But we are consciously moving towards the agriculture advances. In Punjab and Haryana, where the agriculture advances are to the tune of Rs 300 crore, we propose to increase our advances by 30%. In the SME sector, our total exposure is Rs 350 crore and we hope to grow by 50%,” he said.