 "Andhra Bank seeks to sell Rs 1,388-cr bad debt")
Andhra Bank on Monday offered to sell Rs 1,388 crore of bad debt to asset restructuring companies (ARCs).
The bank has put out an advertisement inviting expressions of interest from interested ARCs to take over this principal, spread across 29 accounts.
The decision to sell the bad debt comes as a shift in its policy from when C V R Rajendran was chairman and managing director. Rajendran demitted office in April.
During his tenure, the bank retained the bad loans on its books and launched a drive to recover the non-performing assets (NPAs) by its own staff. He used to say the staff and management had to undergo the pain of the NPA burden, so as to be more careful in granting fresh loans.
The bank's gross and net NPAs stood at Rs 7,470 crore (5.71 per cent) and Rs 3,750 crore (2.95 per cent) in the quarter ended September. Suresh N Patel, the chief executive officer and managing director, who took charge last week, said there would be an effort to bring down NPA levels by the end of the financial year.
