Andhra Banks aims to double business from Guj in two years

Ahmedabad, Jan 24 (PTI) The Chairman and ManagingDirector of Andhra Bank, R Ramachandran, today said that theywould like to double the business from Gujarat in the nexttwo years.

"We see great potential in Gujarat as the state wasrapidly developing in the field of ports, chemical industry,power and other sectors," Ramachandran who was here toinaugurate bank''s new branch in Gandhidham, Kutch, toldmediapersons.

He said that they were working on a fastrack mode tosource business from Gujarat.

"Our current business from Gujarat is over Rs 2000crore, we plan to double it in the next two years," he said.

"Since the big industries are fast developing in thestate, our focus would be to explore opportunities in varioussectors. As the big companies investing in Gujarat wouldalready have their banking tie-up, we would be concentratingon small and medium suppliers, feeder units and ancillariesthat would come up due to big industries," Ramachandran said.

Since most of the big companies outsource theirmanufacturing to small units, it would be good to target theseancillaries and small units that provide manufacturing supportto large companies in Gujarat, he said. .

"Even if we get 2-3 per cent of the small units in Gujarat, we would be able to double our business in thestate," Ramachandran said.

When asked if Andhra Bank would like to lend to the selfhelp groups (SHG) in the state, Ramachandran said that theypresently do not plan to do so.

"We do not have a rural branch in the state throughwhich we could lend to SHGs. But we are ready to collaborateclosely with the government and other banks if we are calledfor. Also we can provide consultancy to replicate the SHGlending model which we have been able to successfully executein Andhra Pradesh," he said.

The CMD also expected to work towards increasing thebank''s share of business in the Home Loan segment.

The Andhra Bank also plans to open two more branchesin Bhavnagar and Jamnagar in next couple of months in thestate to take the total branches in Gujarat to 20.