Kurnool: Andhra Pragathi Grammena Bank( APGB) Chairman A Venkat Reddy on Friday said that 30 new branches and 30 Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) would be opened during the current fiscal in Kadapa, Kurnool, Nellore, Anantapur and Prakasam districts to serve a customer base of 60 lakh which is steadily growing. The bank would be recruiting 350 new staff to cater to the growing demand for banking services particularly after demonetisation, he said. With a networth of Rs1,811 crores, the APG Bank ranks first position among its peers in the country, he said.
Addressing media, the Chairman said that the bank has a comfortable deposit base of Rs 11,800 crore. For the half year ending September 30, 2017, the bank has posted a turnover of Rs 22,800 crore. This has seen a sharp increase from the March figure of Rs 21,500 crore, he said.
The Chairman Venkat Reddy said that the Bank has changed its strategy of only lending to the priority sector portfolio like crop loans and self help groups, and now has included urban and semi urban banking services. He said that the bank is now lending to Housing, Personal loans, vehicle loans,education loans, and MSME sectors. The Non-Performing Assets (NPA) as a percentage of deposits is the lowest at 0.7 percent as on September, 30, he added.
The Chairman further said that Aadhar seeding has become a big challenge to the banking staff as the new guidelines make it mandatory that only bank staff should enable the customer Aadhar seeding. Earlier it was outsourced to third parites, he said. Electronic Know Your Customer (EKYC) facility is being introduced and is being propagated through a net work of 985 business correspondents in the region, the chairman said.
Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank came into existence from June 1, 2006 by amalgamating Rayalaseema Grameena Bank, Sri Anantha Grameena Bank and Pinakini Grameena Bank consequent upon the Government of India.
The Bank is constituted under Regional Rural Banks Act 1976. The Bank is having its Head Office at KADAPA with a jurisdiction of 5 districts namely Anantapur, Y. S. R (Kadapa), Kurnool, Nellore and Prakasam. The Bank is having 7 Regional offices with its Head quarters at 5 district Head Quarters, Kadiri of Anantapur district and in Nandyal of Kurnool district.
