Andhra Bank looks to improve profits

Inaugurates 2,600th branch and 3,000th ATM on Friday

Hyderabad: Public sector Andhra Bank is keen on improving its profitability even at the cost of business growth in the wake of the city-based bank experiencing stress on the asset quality and profits in the recent times.

Speaking after inauguration of 2,600th branch and 3,000th ATM here on Friday, S K Kalra, the bank’s Managing Director and CEO, maintained that the bank could sacrifice top line growth, but there was no way it could compromise on the bottom line growth.

According to him, the bank can even post a net profit of Rs 1,000 crore during the current fiscal if macro economic conditions improve in the third quarter. It reported a net profit of Rs 630 crore in the last financial year ended on March 31, 2015 and has set a target to increase the net by 26 per cent to Rs 800 crore this fiscal.

The bank has to clock 47 per cent upswing to reach the landmark of Rs 1,000 crore in net profit this fiscal. “It is possible for us to improve profitability without clocking similar growth rate in total business. We can do this by increasing the recoveries, reducing the NPAs as well as costs,” he explained.

Kalra further said efforts were underway to reduce gross NPAs from the current 5.75 per cent to 5 per cent and net NPAs from 2.93 per cent to 2.5 per cent this fiscal.

Now, the bank has over 5,600 delivery channels including 2,600 branches and 3,000 ATMs, across 26 states and three union territories. Of the total branches, 43 per cent are located in semi-urban and rural areas while the remaining 57 per cent are in the urban areas.

To expand its network further, the bank has drawn up plans for over 400 branches this fiscal. Already, it has opened 100 new branches and remaining 300 will be inaugurated during the course of the current fiscal.

As a part of its customer-friendly initiatives, the bank has re-launched its premium CASA products. Under this, the AB Emerald premium current deposit account has been re-launched as AB Emerald Plus current account with the minimum account opening amount reduced to Rs 1 lakh from earlier Rs 2 lakh and quarterly average balance to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 3 lakh.

100 free cheque leaves, free credit card and free accident insurance for Rs 5 lakh, are among the other features that come with the account. The bank also re-launched AB Super Salary Saving Deposit account with attractive new features.