The Hindu Business Line : Andhra Bank NPAs at near zero pc

Andhra Bank has registered a net profit of Rs 116.41 crore for the quarter ended June 2006, compared to Rs 85.16 crore in the corresponding period of the previous quarter, registering a growth of 36.70 per cent.

The bank's total income has gone up to Rs 862 crore (Rs 695 crore). Announcing the highlights of the results, Mr K. Ramakrishnan, Chairman and Managing Director, said the net non-performing assets had gone down to Rs 16 crore (0.07 per cent) compared to Rs 68 crore (0.38 per cent).

Stating that priority sector advances stood at Rs 8,610 crore (Rs 7,507 crore), he said advances to agriculture went up to Rs 3,672 crore (Rs 2,851 crore), an increase of 28.8 per cent. Low cost deposits grew to Rs 12,466 crore (Rs 9,858 crore).While credit extended to SME sector increased to Rs 2,685 crore (Rs 1,985 crore), retail lending went up to Rs 4,911 crore (Rs 3,867 crore), registering a growth of 27 per cent. The bank's stock ended higher at Rs 70.50 as against previous day's close of Rs 64.50 on Friday on the BSE, showing an increase of 9.30 per cent.

Andhra Bank has said that a hike in the rate was imminent. The bank was likely to take a decision in a week's time."We are working on that. The rate hike is long awaited," Mr K. Ramakrishnan, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, said.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, he said discussions were on to arrive at a decision. He, however, said advances to agriculture sector and SME segment given a consideration.

Asked his opinion on outsourcing of banking activities, Mr Ramakrishnan said that outsourcing was good. Stating that no critical function would be outsourced, he said all other things beneficial to the bank could be outsourced.

Mr Ramakrishnan also denied arguments that outsourcing could lead to downsizing. "There will be no retrenchment in the bank. It will never happen. We need people in marketing. They can be retrained and redeployed," he said

Andhra Bank, which opened its first representative office in Dubai, was planning to open more such offices in Doha, Muscat, Riyadh and Kuwait.

"There are a huge number of expatriates, mostly from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, working in the Gulf. Also, our bank has strong presence in these two States. Hence, we are more suited to have presence in that region," he said.

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