Andhra Bank employees took out a silent procession from Labbipet to Agri Gold office to demand the company to repay the Rs. 227 crore due to the bank immediately, here on Monday.
This is the third time that the Andhra Bank employees organised such a protest to create awareness among people and mount pressure on borrowers to clear the dues. The employees carried placards which read, “Repay the loans.” Nevertheless, there were no slogans.
Andhra Bank Labbipet AGM M. Vijay Pratap said, “Agri Gold has taken loans worth of Rs. 227 crore. Of this, Rs.210 crore loan was already declared as Non-Performing Asset (NPA) as the borrower hasn’t paid the instalments or loan amount within the stipulated time. Another set of Rs. 20 crore borrowed for three power plants would have to be declared as NPAs in view of the guidelines.
As per the rules, any loan amount would become NPA, if the borrower has not paid any instalment or principle amount for 90 days. The company should pay Rs. 80 crore to come out of the NPA mark. The bank has already served notices to the company. The Agri Gold was yet to respond. It would take three to four months to issue seizure notices in view of procedures involved, he said.
As many as 20,736 borrowers would have to repay Rs. 414 crore worth loans to the Andhra Bank in Vijayawada zone alone. Majority of the NPAs were the accounts belonging to bigwigs according to AB. “Their borrowings touched Rs. 190 crore in some instances,” said AB DGM G.S.V. Krishna Rao. The bank top management has directed to bring down the gross NPAs from existing 5.99 percent to 4 percent by end of financial year. The bank plans to bring down gross NPAs from Rs. 6,600 crore to Rs. 4,600 crore. The unions and employees were asked to work in that direction.
