Andhra Bank, Vizag, targets 175% growth in advances

The Andhra Bank, Visakhapatnam Zone, is aiming for a 175 per cent growth in advances during the current financial year compared with the last year.

The zone controls 90 branches in three north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh.

"This fiscal, we are giving more thrust on lending, particularly to the agricultural sector. We are targeting to sanction Rs 220 crore as advances this year as against Rs 80 crore last year," AVSN Murthy, deputy general manager, Andhra Bank, Vizag Zone, told Business Standard.

For this, the bank is putting special emphasis on retail credit like personal loans, housing, consumer loans and educational loans apart from the agricultural sector.

"This year, we will lend about Rs 95 crore to the agricultural sector and about Rs 83 crore to the retail sector as against Rs 42 crore and Rs 31 crore respectively during the last fiscal," he added.

The bank is also giving equal priority to deposits mobilisation, particularly low-cost and no-cost. "Apart from adding new account-holders, we are organising several utsavs for deposits mobilisations," he stated. It has set a target of Rs 400 crore new retail deposits from Rs 237 crore last fiscal.

During the first half, new deposits increased by Rs 180 crore. Of the total deposits of Rs 1,881 crore by the end of September, no-cost and low-cost deposits stood at Rs 823 crore.

The bank is implementing financial inclusion in Srikakulam district, which has brought 49,685 new households into the banking activity in three months. It also plans to open four more branches across the zone by the end of this fiscal. All the branches will have core banking facilities by March 2009. "Real time gross settlement and the national electronic fund transfer facility are at present available in only 33 branches in the zone," he said.

Murthy said the region would soon have a mobile ATM. "The mobile ATM will operate from January. Two more mobile ATMs will join by the end of this fiscal," he said. It also plans to set up two biometric ATMs in rural areas by the end of this fiscal.