Excitement and Challenges in journey for growth

Dear All,

I am extremely sorry for not posting any of my messages in past few weeks.

In fact partly the reason was that I was not having adequate response from my colleagues to the messages I had posted already.

It was not right on my part to have expected overwhelming response immediately after introduction of the blog. Hence I decided to resume with my blog and share my experiences with some of my colleagues.

During the interim as usual I have visited many of our zones and branches and even overseas to meet the investors and analysts . This visits do provide lot of feedback as to what bank is doing as perceived by people and enables one to formulate the strategies which will meet the future challenges and expectations.

During the first half of the current fiscal we opened 104 new branches most of which are in northern and western states. This provided opportunity for at least 104 people to work as branch in charge and consequently upgrade their skills. The first half also saw tremendous growth in both top line and bottom line. The credit grew by 32% and profit for the first half was Rs 532 Cr. against total profit of Rs 653 Cr. last year. These developments brought the bank into limelight. After september 09 results the analysts and investors were very happy which reflected in the price of Andhra Bank shares in the stock market. Business Today a well known magazine adjudged us as best bank under asset quality. Similarly last week Business World another important magazine shortlisted us among all the banks for most socially responsible bank. The first prize under this category ultimately went to SBI. There were several other categories in these awards where we were quite low in the list. While we are proud of our achievements and are happy when they are recognized, we should not loose sight of several other areas where we have long way to go. Of course to get any laurel or recognition we need to work very hard and in focused manner. Some of the areas which we should look forward are as follows :-

a) Low cost deposits should reach 35% of total deposit- presently it is 32%.
b) We should have the growth of 25% in deposits and 25% in advances.
c) Our NPA needs to be restricted to the present level.

First two objectives can be reached since we have now opened a large number of new branches this year, without much of difficulty. However this will require lot of efforts from each one of us.

Needless to mention that growth will bring enough opportunities to all of us, besides the recognition we get from external agencies including the awards we get from agencies like the above. This definitely brings pride in all of us to be a part of this great institution.

The journey of growth is very exciting. Let us enjoy being a part of it and contribute with our efforts.

Anil Girotra

Dear All,

Quarterly reslts are very important these days.apart from the shareholders (including the government),financial results are important and sometimes a source of inspiration for employees who are involved in day to day management and conduct of business.Besides compensation for work employees have lot of emotional attachment with the institution for which they work.It is in this context they are very important for us the employees.Q1 results of our bank which were declared yesterday were good.We have after a very long time showed a growth in the first quarter in topline.Our deposits have grown by about Rs 1000 crores and advances by Rs 500 crores.Interest income on loans have shown a very healthy growth of 38% and wheras gross advances have grown by 30% or so.Operating profit is up by 69.53%net profit has gone up by 230%-from 77 crores in Q1 last year to 256 crores q1 this year.Even as compared to last quarte the performance is good this quarters.Of cpourse one of driver fdor this growth in NP besides interest income is treasury income.treasury is one good source of income stream since abouut 25% of funds are locked in this portfcolio.another qualitative aspect about our results is coverage ratio.This is ratio of coverage of our standard assets by securities.our Net interest income and net interest Margin also have shown increase over last quarter which is also considered a qualitative strength of result.Of course we must keep in mind that just like any student's exam there is no guarantee that if we do well this time next tqurter will automatically be good.for next quarter we have to perform now.We have to concentrate on1.CASA-For thius stratagies are new clientele.Unmless we open large number of accounts we will not be able top do this.we have target of 10 accounta every day at every branch.This involves hard work,involvement,marketing and good service.2.To increase interest income increase in advances and particularly retail advances.3.Non interest income cause it helps in increasing total income without involvement of funds.It improves cost to income ratio -which is another ratio which helps bank to be perceived as a fundamentally strong bank.4Monitoring of advances -To keep NPA to minimum.5.One strength is our Capital adequacy ratio.We have 14.75 %which is very good.We will maintain above 13%.Key to achieve above is consistent hard work and maintaining excellent customer service and image of the bank.We are yet to leverage CBS fully.I am sure that with all teams /unitss working in unison we will be able to hold ANDHRA BANK flag high.With my best wishes for all your endeavours..

Anil Girotra

Why new mascot?

dear all,

This week our bank was in news for having unveiled a mascot/a new slogan /a vision and a mission statement.

it is necessary to explain why a mascot when no other bank has it.

many years back i still remember a dog used to be a mascot or probably a part of logo of Syndicate bank. Probably the bank had that to signify that the bank was faithful to the demands of the customer.Similarly air India 's Maharaja welcoming the guests to tell that they welcome the guest with all humility.

Mascot is used by institutions to state their ethos and let the stakeholders know what they stand for. It also has a recall value. A symbol generally has a better recall value than words. We as Andhra Bank has been serving the society for last 85 years. In AP we are strong well known homegrown brand. However elsewhere we are not that well known. You a be aware we are opening a large number of branches outside Andhra during this year. Further during the last year we have transformed to a full CBS bank. Hence we need to position ourselves in league with those banks who are hi tech oriented, targeting to all types of customers,- young and not so young, all income classes including high net worth clients and more so would like t6o present ourselves as a pan Indian bank having geographical spread all over the country.

This needed some symbol which should depict everything we stand for.

Dolphin is an intelligent responsive and a friendly animal besides being eversmiling. Hence this was chosen as our mascot. Our mascot is named Dolle- Dol from dolphin and L being lovable and E is added in red to identify with technology. DOLLE (pronounced as DOLLY) is a very popular name.

We also change the slogan as

ANDHRA BANK

ENTER KEY

for all your needs

The idea was to keep this slogan simple, brief and state our philosophy to our customers. Enter key is to stress on our modern technology. So it is a combination of visual and words.

No logo mascot or slogan is good enough unless it is backed by the action which has been promised in the mascots/slogans.

To come up to the expectations we are bringing out several new products including technology products. Already we have mobile alerts (PUSH CATEGORY) and we are in few days going to start PULL CATEGORY sms alerts. We have Internet banking already in place. Last week we also launched flexi RD scheme. We also have recently launched AB speedways - a scheme for immediate remittance from abroad for NRIs. We are coming out with online stock trading shortly. Hence I feel we need to position ourselves to those clients who were probably feeling that we are not able to match with the best.

It is not only the products which take an institution forward. It is also the processes and people.

It is the delivery of these products which will determine whether we can stand up to the commitment we have given to our customers.

I hope you agree with me when I say that none of the other efforts will succeed unless the delivery is smooth, seem less and create a pleasant feeling. I am confident that we will be able to stand up the challenge.

I would definitely like you to respond with some good ideas which can make us a prominent star in the financial world.

Regards

Anil Girotra

Why the blog?

You must have been wondering -after all why this blog?
My aim is only to keep myself connected with my colleagues. It is true that we officially communicate through the hierarchy of the organisation structure. But sometimes while communication through that channel either there are delays or the formality curbs the true communication.
Primarily I would like to take advantage of your experiences in the field and your assessment of our customer service, systems and host of other issues. This will help me in sometimes clarifying the perceptions of the top management and sometimes use your experiences and fine tune the policies in overall interest of the bank.
You are aware that Andhra bank is at threshold of growth. I say this because we are now on a technology platform which is one of the best in the industry. We can now grow from infancy to adult hood. It is true that we are a good bank in the sense that we have least NPAs, we have a dedicated workforce, we are still perceived as a bank growing with relatively slower pace.
We have introduced several new products in last couple of months and we are going to introduce in days to come. All this will be useful if each one of us is committed to the resolve of growing faster than the industry in coming years. The bank is also conscious that without the involvement of Human Resources the success is meaningless. It is precisely this reason that I thought let me open another channel of communication with you directly which will not be dependent on the hierarchical structure. Of course I would like this blog to be used from really serious issues and not the trivial/minor ones.

आंध्र बैंक / ఆంధ్ర బ్యాంకు

Brief History
"Andhra Bank" was founded by the eminent freedom fighter and a multifaceted genius, Dr.Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya. The Bank was registered on 20th November 1923 and commenced business on 28th November 1923 with a paid up capital of Rs 1.00 lakh and an authorised capital of Rs 10.00 lakhs.