Andhra Bank to open representative offices in US, Middle East

Bangalore, Dec 4 (UNI) Andhra Bank is awaiting clearance from the Reserve Bank of India to open its representative offices in New Orleans in the US and Doha and Qatar in the Middle East.

Revealing this to newspersons here today, Bank Executive Director Kalyan Mukherjee said the bank had started its representative office in Dubai last year. In the domestic front, the bank proposed to open new branches in Gangtok, Haldia and Varanasi as per its announcement of opening 66 branches in the year.

He said discussions were on with the Bank of India and a foreign insurance company for introducing a life insurance scheme. However, the percentage of shareholding was yet to be crystalised. The letter of offer had been sent to the BOI in this regard. ''We are fundamentally strong and we aim at mutual benefits in such type of arrangements,'' he remarked.

To a question related to mergers and acquisitions, he said the bank was open to any such development. However, there was nothing in the offing as of now, he added.

Mr Mukherjee said the bank's total business turnover was Rs 56,406 crore, comprising Rs 33,922 crore of deposits and Rs 22,483 crore of advances. The bank emerged strong in Non-Performing Asset management, with the gross NPA at 1.76 per cent and net NPA at 0.10 per cent in September last. The bank hoped to achieve a total turnover of Rs one lakh crore in the next couple of years, he added.

He said that for the fiscal for Karnataka, which had 31 branches, the deposit target was Rs 1,600 crore as against the present Rs 1,350 crore and advances Rs 1,450 crore from Rs 1,150 crore now.

UNI SR GD TS1708