52 Grameena Vikas Bank branches in AP

Visakhapatnam, May 8 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Grameen Vikas Bank (APGVB) Chairman Anantha Krishna today announced its network expansion by opening 52 new branches this year with a goal of reaching out to each and every person in the rural area by next year.

Talking to newspersons here, he said the State Bank of India-sponsored bank, which was formed by amalgamating five regional rural banks operating in eight districts in the state, already had 483 branches with the Government of India having 50 per cent share, SBI holding 35 per cent and the State Government controlling 15 per cent of the stake in the bank.

The 'Suvidha Vikas' scheme, under which debt swapping was allowed for easing the pressure on customers, especially farmers, received favourable response from Srikakulam district. The bank would implement the scheme enabling farmers to repay their high-interest loans with low coast borrowings.

This was for the first time a bank was extending a scheme for second line living. ''This has been thought of keeping in mind the suicides of the farmers in Vidharba in Maharashtra and other places.

In this scheme, each farmer who avails a crop loan would be given a second loan for setting up another unit for livelihood like poultry, dairy or a piggery unit. If the crop fails he could sustain with the other sources of income'', he added.

UNI