 "Andhra Bank to explore new markets, to double presenceof zonal offices")
Andhra Bank, the public sector lender whose business was seriously hit in the last one year due to political developments taking place in Andhra Pradesh is planning to explore new geographies to expand its business.
The bank is set to launch 9 new zonal offices in April this year and would add 500 branches in financial year 2014-15.
Talking to Business Standard, S K Kalra, the Executive Director of Bank told that the unrest in the state of Andhra over the Telengana issue in the last year resulted in a loss of 100 working days of bank and a substantial business of the bank. As a result, the bank will now spread its footprint in rest of India in order to shed dependence of a particular geography.
The bank's bad loans have zoomed which was at 5.5%( gross NPA) and 3.5% (net NPA) due to general slowdown in the economy and loss of business due to political movement in Andhra Pradesh.
The delay in the execution and completion of projects particularly in power and infrastructure undermined the timely recoveries and inflated the banks NPAs, Kalra said. With the bank foraying in new markets and with the expectation of the revival in the economic activity, Kalra said he expects bank will now go into a higher growth trajectory.
"The focus in the new geographies would be on retail and prioity sector lending," he said. The bank would open new zonal offices at Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur , Ludhiana, Patna, Indore, Coimbatore, Kochi and Patna, having a total of 18 zonal offices across India.
The bank has a network of 2020 branches and has a major presence in Andhra Pradesh/Telengana. He apprised that the Bank recruited 3,500 officers and clerks last year to support the expansion and may hire more but did not come out with a final number.
Now that the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has been decided, this may result in more the business, Kalra said. The approval of grants for the new states, proposals of new green field projects would spur the economic activities in the state and having a strong presence in the region, and Andhra Bank may benefit from this.