Credit off-take to pick up in current quarter: Andhra Bank
State-run Andhra Bank today said it is expecting credit off-take, which has been hovering around 7% so far this fiscal, to pick up in the current quarter as it expects the RBI to ease monetary policy sooner than later.
January 06, 2012 / 22:35 IST
State-run Andhra Bank today said it is expecting credit off-take, which has been hovering around 7% so far this fiscal, to pick up in the current quarter as it expects the RBI to ease monetary policy sooner than later. "We expect a pick up in advances in the current quarter as we are expecting the Reserve Bank to soften its tight monetary stance soon.
The overall year-on-year credit growth so far has been 21%," BA Prabhakar, who took over as Chairman and Managing director of the Hyderabad-based mid-sized lender on Monday, told PTI on phone today. Prabhakar was appointed as the head of Andhra Bank on November 21 last year. Asked whether his bank's exposure to the power sector, especially to the state-run utilities, has turned bad loans, he answered in the negative. Similar was his response to another query on the textile sector, which has an accumulated debt of over Rs 1 trillion. However, Prabhakar said his bank's exposure has crossed the sectoral cap with nearly 20% of its advances being to state utilities. Last November the bank had said it stopped extending fresh advances to the power sector due to the same reason. As of the September quarter, its advances to the power sector stood at Rs 17,693 crore, which is over 19% of its Rs 78,454 crore loan-book, the bank's Mumbai Zonal Manager P Nagendranathe Rao had said. Barring Rajasthan State Electricity Board, no other SEB had approached the lender for a debt restructuring. It has exposure to over half a dozen state-run utilities such as that of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab, besides some private utilities, Rao had said. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
