Andhra Bank registers 13.08 per cent growth in Q3

Hyderabad, Jan 30 (UNI) The Public Sector Andhra Bank has posted a net profit of 451.32 crore, registering 13.08 per cent growth, in the third quarter ending December 31, 2007, as against Rs 399 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Addressing a press conference here today, Bank Chairman and MD K Ramakrishnan said the total business had gone up by 21.94 per cent at Rs 75,225 crore and the deposits stood at Rs 43,911 crore, registering a growth of 21.60 per cent.

He said the bank had shown all round improvement in business and would continue the same trend in the next three months of the fiscal.

He said the bank loans and advances had achieved 22.42 per cent at Rs 32,314 crore and the net NPAs stood at 0.16 per cent, which was one of the lowest in the industry.

Mr Ramakrishnan said the bank's low cost deposits increasd from Rs 13,372 crore to Rs 14,956 crore with an year on year growth of 11.84 per cent and the Gross Bank Credit increased from Rs 25,579 crore to Rs 31,314 crore, registering an year on year growth of 22.42 per cent.

He said the advances to agriculture sector had increased from Rs 4,395 crore to Rs 5,677 crore with an year on year growth of 29.19 per cent and the credit on this sector constituted 20.11 per cent of the net bank credit as against the RBI norm of 18 per cent.

He said the bank had issued 5.47 lakh kisan credit cards to farmers and the bank's total income registered an year on year growth of 32.59 per cent and bank's interest income increased by 33.05 per cent.

He said the bank's fee-based income had increased from Rs 26.49 crore to Rs 51.24 crore by the end of December 2007.

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