Decentralisation of administration is boosting development in AP, says bank chief
Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh is having the most-congenial environment for industrial development and it is maintaining the top slot among all states in the ease of doing business for three years in a row, a top banking executive has said.
Union Bank of India MD & CEO A. Manimekhalai said on Friday that the state was growing rapidly on all fronts under the leadership of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. This would usher in new business avenues for banks, she said after a meeting with the CM.
Addressing the state-level banking committee (SLBC) meeting, Manimekhalai said, “Normalcy has returned in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The national and state economies are currently on a rising trajectory. In AP, the district reorganisation decision by CM Jagan is helping in the decentralisation of the administration, thereby boosting development on all fronts.”
Manimekhalai said, “AP has recorded 11.43 per cent GSDP growth, the highest in the country during FY 2021-22, despite the Covid-19 blues. The recent global investors summit has received proposals for investments of a total of Rs 13 lakh crore, and this is bound to give a fresh impetus to industrial development. This would also create vast employment opportunities. The 970 km coastline of AP, the second largest in the country, would facilitate large-scale seaport activities that promise good scope for export credit for the banking sector in the state.”
Lauding the welfare schemes in Andhra Pradesh, Manimekhalai noted that the schemes were reaching the beneficiaries in an extremely transparent, seamless and efficient manner. These are helping increase the family income levels, thereby generating transformative changes in the lifestyles of the weaker sections of the population.”
She observed, “Village Secretariats and Rythu Bharosa Kendras at the grassroots level have been effecting a paradigm shift in the rural economic landscape of AP.”
Manimekhalai requested her fellow bankers to achieve 100% digital transformation in 17 districts, while appreciating them for achieving this goal in nine districts. She said AP has 1,12,419 banking outlets (bank branches-7769; ATMs 10553 and BCs 94097).
“A wide network of the bank branches, (64%), is in rural and semi-urban areas. Of these, Union bank has 1171 branches, 1614 ATMs, 2097 BCs, 7 FLCs, 9 RSETIs, 2 DBUs and it is also the Lead Bank in 14 out of the total 26 districts,” she said.
