Andhra Bank says has 43.46 bln rupee exposure to firms affected by coal ruling

MUMBAI (Reuters) - State-run Andhra Bank has a loan exposure of 43.46 billion rupees ($711.8 million) to companies that have been ordered by the Supreme Court to return coal blocks, its chairman said on Thursday.

Andhra Bank's total exposure to steel and power companies is between 120 billion rupees and 130 billion rupees, C.V.R. Rajendran told Reuters.

Andhra Bank shares were down over 6 percent by 1:12 p.m., extending Wednesday's 4 percent fall after the Supreme Court verdict. Lenders have been hit by worries that the verdict scrapping coal allocations over two decades could lead to a rise in bad loans.

"This is an industry-wide problem," Rajendran said in a phone interview, adding an early reallocation of the coal blocks could help lower the impact on the companies and the lenders.

 

"If it happens at the earliest, it should not have a major impact."

($1 = 61.0600 rupees)

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)