Public sector lender Andhra Bank today said its retail loan book would grow by around 45-50 per cent this fiscal on the back of a healthy demand from home and gold segments.
In FY10, the bank saw its retail loan-book grow by 48 per cent.
"Overall, there is a pick-up in demand for retail loans. Clearly, consumer confidence has come back and we expect to sustain the growth momentum in the current fiscal as well," Andhra Bank's General Manager Anjaneya Prasad told reporters here.
In FY10, the lender disbursed around Rs 54,000 crore of which Rs 8,900 crore comprised retail advances. Out of this, home loans comprised Rs 3,480 crore, education loans Rs 1,647 crore, non-agriculture gold loan Rs 1,382 crore, personal loans Rs 971 crore and rest miscellaneous advances, Prasad said.
With gold demand expected to be strong in the coming months, the lender aims to grow its gold loans to Rs 3,000 crore from the present Rs 1,400 crore.
"Despite increasing gold prices, consumers in the country will continue to drive market growth and we want to grab the opportunity," he said.
Andhra Bank is providing gold loans at less interest (around 14 per cent) as compared to other banks which are charging more, he said, adding, "we have already started a campaign to attract customers."
The bank currently has a branch network of 1,700 pan-India with gold loan facilities available in 1,100 branches.
