Andhra Bank expects to get another Rs 122 crore in central assistance by year-end

Already allotted first tranche of Rs 378 crore as part of Indradhanush

Andhra Bank has said it expected the Centre would infuse another Rs 122 crore or more by the end of the current financial year, of the Rs 500 crore requested as financial support. As part of the announcement of the Indradhanush plan for revival of public sector banks, the Centre has announced assistance of Rs 378 crore to the bank.

After inaugurating a bank's new branch here, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer S K Kalra, said, "We have requested the government for about Rs 500 crore and Rs 378 crore has been approved. The rest will be released after assessing the performance and we expect to get more than Rs 122 crore as the second tranche by the end of the year." The first tranche is expected to come in a month and will be utilised to maintain capital adequacy.

The bank is planning to raise about Rs 3,000 crore this financial year, including Rs 500 crore from the government, Rs 700 crore through qualified institutional placement and Rs 1,800 crore from Tier-I and Tier-II bonds, he said.

Kalra said the bank would continue its focus on micro, small and medium enterprises and retail sectors. He added these two sectors were expected to grow 20 per cent a year. He said initially, the growth of the total business was 18-20 per cent, it is expected to grow this year at around 15 per cent, given the market conditions, he said.

He said the bank currently has around 2,550 branches, of which around 700 are next-generation ones. The bank will recruit around 600 officers and 1,600 clerical staff during the current financial year.

The Chennai zone has 92 branches and total business of Rs 9,921 crore, while the Coimbatore zone consists of 62 branches and contributes Rs 4,207 crore. The bank is proposing to open another 17 branches in the Chennai zone before the end of this year.