Andhra Bank plans drive for kiddy bank accounts in state

In a bid to inculcate savings habit among the school children, Andhra Bank has decided to launch a drive to encourage opening of kiddy bank accounts, a savings scheme of the bank exclusively meant for the children.

The kiddy bank account of Andhra Bank is unique as it covers life insurance of the account holders as well as the parents of the kids. The account can be opened by any kid below 14 years of age. “Although the kiddy bank account of Andhra Bank is very attractive and prospective, the bank does not have enough account holders in its Berhampur zone. We have planned to launch a drive in the schools to motivate the children and their parents to open the account”, said T Venkaiah, zonal manager of Andhra Bank’s Berhampur zone.

There are as many as 8,191 kiddy bank accounts in the Berhampur zone which has 72 branches in 10 districts of south Orissa and the Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh which also comes under the zone.

The Hyderabad based bank has not fixed any target for kiddy accounts for this year. “We have not set any target, but we will open as many as accounts in the zone”, said Venkaiah. He, however, said the zone has fixed a target of Rs 2,453.75 crore of business in 2009-10, which is a growth of around 30 percent over the previous fiscal. In 2008-09, the zone had achieved a total business of Rs 1,888.42 crore, which included Rs 1,279 crore of deposits and Rs 609.42 crore of advances.

Out of the total target of Rs 2,453.75 crore fixed for the year of 2009-10, Rs 1,659.75 crore would be deposits and the remaining Rs 794 crore being advances. The bank would continue to give emphasis on disbursing advances to agriculture and small businesses, he said.

While in the previous fiscal, the Berhampur zone of the bank had provided Rs 230.55 crore advances to the agriculture sector, the target for this fiscal was fixed at Rs 360 crore.