Andhra Bank, a public sector bank aims to enter the mid-size category of banks in the country by the end of this fiscal by crossing a total business volume of Rs 1,00,000 crore.
“Our aim is to enter the mid-size category of banks by the end of this fiscal and the big size category by March 2010 through aggressive expansion of business", said T Ravindranath, one of the directors of Andhra Bank.
Banks with a total business volume of less than Rs 1,00,000 crore are categorized as small size banks while banks with a business volume of over Rs 1,00,000 crore are categorized as mid-sized banks by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
“The total business of Andhra Bank grew by 27.38 percent during April-December of this fiscal to reach Rs 95,822 crore as against Rs 75,225 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The bank’s total business currently stands at about Rs 97,000 crore”, he told Business Standard.
The bank’s operating profit increased by 29.22 per cent during April-December 2008 while its net profit grew by 33.74 per cent.
Ravindranath was here to attend the triennial conference of the Andhra Bank Employees' Union of Orissa.
“The bank’s thrust areas were on advances to priority sectors as well as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Andhra Bank’s priority sector advances stood at about Rs 14,200 crore in December 2008 and the bank had also extended credit of Rs 14,200 crore to 2,03, 500 Self Help Groups (SHGs) across the country.
Apart from increasing its business volume, Andhra Bank also aimed to add 150 more branches across the country by September this year and to bring all its existing 1,440 branches under the Core Banking Solutions (CBS) by the end of 2008-09.
“Around 1,200 branches of Andhra Bank have already been brought under the CBS platform and the remaining branches would be brought under CBS by the end of March this year", claimed Ravindranath.
The branches of Andhra Bank are located in 22 states and two Union Territories and the bank has decided to open new branches in the Northern, eastern and western regions of the country. The bank had opened its representative office in Dubai and Jersey City (USA) in November last year.
