Andhra Bank to expand Middle-East network

Kochi, Jul 17: Focusing on the expansion of its overseas network, the public sector Andhra Bank has decided to set up representative offices in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman, its chairman M Ramakrishnan said today.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Ramakrishnan said the bank had already opened a representative office in Dubai in May this year.

It had applied to the RBI for license to open the offices in Kuwait and Qatar and will be applying shortly for Saudi Arabia and Oman also, he said.

Stating that the bank was continuing to make steady progress, he said that it ended last financial year with a net profit of Rs 485 crore and had declared a 35 per cent dividend.

In an effort to provide better services to its customers, the bank had launched a ''mobile branch'' with ATM and other facilities in Hyderabad on an experimental basis. With the service proving to be quite popular, there were plans to launch similar ''mobile branches'' in Mumbai and other cities also.

It had also started 0800 am to 0800 pm and Sunday working branches, he said.

Mr Ramakrishnan said Andhra Bank was planning to open 100 more branches and an equal number of ATMs in the current year. Currently, it has 1218 branches, 122 extension counters and 408 ATMs.

The bank, which did a total business of over Rs 56,000 crore last year, had set a target of Rs 67,000 crore for this fiscal.

UNI