Andhra Bank is planning to open more branches in Visakhapatnam district to take the number to 100 from the present 70, its Chairman and Managing Director C. V. R. Rajendran has said.
“Visakhapatnam is by far the most important economic centre and city in Andhra Pradesh, though Vijayawada may be the political capital. We have 70 branches in the district. We shall create a separate zone for Visakhapatnam district,” he told the media after inaugurating the Sagar Nagar branch here on Thursday.
Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts would be separated from the Visakhapatnam Zone and formed into a new zone, he explained.
Referring to the staff staging dharna at offices and residences of defaulting customers as part of their initiative to recover loans and reduce the non-performing assets, he said:
“Our employees are peacefully exerting pressure on the borrowers to pay back the loans. There is nothing improper in it. We are employing Gandhian methods. We are not sending goondas in the guise of recovery agents like private banks.”
The bank would focus more on retail lending, he said. Agricultural debt waiver schemes of the A. P. and Telangana governments had hit the bank in both the states, affecting its lending, he added.
A. P. and Telangana together accounted for 51 per cent of the business at present, but it would be reduced to 35 per cent in future, with the growth in other states.
“Ideally, we want to have one-third of our business in A. P. and Telangana and the rest in other states,” Mr. Rajendran said, and added that the bank planed to add 1,100 branches and most would be outside A. P. and Telangana.
Bank Zonal Manager G. V. Lalitha Prasad interacted with customers on the occasion.