Andhra Banks targets Rs 10,000 cr total biz in Odisha

Bank plans big expansion, to have 200 branches by next fiscal

Andhra Bank is eyeing a total business of Rs 10,000 crore from its operations in Odisha by the end of 2014-15, the bank’s chairman cum managing director (CMD) CVR Rajendran said here.

The public sector bank has already achieved business of Rs 9,200 crore in the state by the end of September. This includes Rs 6,721.04 crore deposits and advances worth Rs 2,465.08 crore.

With 145 branches in the state under Bhubaneswar and Berhampur zone, the bank intends to scale up its network to 200 branches by the end of next fiscal and eventually take it to 300 branches.

“Before March 2015, we will establish 15 branches under Bhubaneswar zone and 15 branches under Berhampur zone. We will also open a zonal office in Sambalpur in the next fiscal,” Rajendran said.

Andhra Bank’s agricultural advances stood at 18.02 per cent of its total advances in the state. During 2013-14, the bank has already disbursed Rs 176 crore under crop loan and Rs 54 crore under term loan. Its MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) advances were 35.37 per cent to total advances. The bank has one MSME focused branch at Jagannathpur, Berhampur which has advanced Rs 8 crore.

The bank has lead bank responsibility in two districts of the state — Ganjam and Gajapati.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Andhra Bank has been allotted 272,168 households under 176 sub-service areas covering 1317 villages and 129 wards. The bank has opened 91,678 accounts under PMJDY (as on December 6, 2014) out of which RuPay cards has been issued to 78,450 accounts.

“The key challenge to implementing PMJDY is accessibility to people, especially in rural areas. Banking network in Odisha is not as widespread as neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. So, we have to depend on banking correspondents to open new bank accounts. The greater challenge is making the account operational since PMJDY mandates that the account holders need to have at least one banking activity in 45 days,” Rajendran said.