Andhra Bank for consortium to fund irrigation works

Andhra Bank has initiated talks with other commercial banks to create a consortium which could then finance major irrigation projects in the state.

"For a single bank, it is difficult to finance the big amounts for major projects, but if we can make consortium with three or four other banks, then we can finance some irrigation projects. Andhra Bank has already started discussions in this direction with the cooperation of Nabard," T S Narayanasami, chairman and managing director, Andhra Bank, told media persons.

The bank he said would consider the state government's request for implementing a moratorium on collection of agricultural loans in the state on sympathetic grounds, he said. Andhra Bank has decided to spread its wings to other parts of the country including the northeastern states.

Narayanasami pointed out that at present 75 per cent of the bank's branches were in Andhra Pradesh and now it wanted to increase its presence significantly in other states also.

Accordingly, the bank is planning to open about 55 new branches over the next three months, and most of these branches will be opened outside Andhra Pradesh, he said.

"Andhra Bank is not interested in setting up more ATMs. Our thrust is to provide more value added services through the existing network of 272 ATMs across the country. We have also entered into an agreement with IDBI Bank and ICICI Bank for ATM sharing," he said.

"In the current fiscal we are focusing on non-interest income (NII) across the country. During the last fiscal, the bank earned NII of Rs 315 crore. Sixteen new non interest financial centres are being established and in the current year we expect a 30 per cent growth in NII as compared to the last fiscal," he said.

"At the moment there is no proposal to implement VRS in the bank as we are in the process of opening more branches across the country and need the services of our existing staff," Narayanasami added.