SBH gone, now Andhra Bank will be history with mega merger

Hyderabad: The 96-year-old Andhra Bank, the first bank in Andhra region of Madras Presidency, will soon be history as the Centre has announced a mega-merger of 10 public-sector banks (PSBs) into four entities. After the first bank in Hyderabad i.e. State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) was merged into State Bank of India (SBI) a few years ago, now is the turn of Andhra Bank. The Andhra Bank is set to be merged with the Union Bank of India (UBI).

The death knell for the Andhra Bank came from the hands of Andhra's daughter-in-law i.e. Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, union finance minister and wife of Parakala Prabhakar a senior politician and communications advisor to the AP government in 2014-18.

The Andhra Bank was established on November 20, 1923, in Bandaru (Machilipatnam) by Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitharamaiah, freedom fighter and senior Congress leaders. It commenced operations from Pattabhi’s residence and grew into what’s today with over 3,000 branches across the nation. Pattabhi conceived the idea of setting up a bank with an objective of extending financial support to farmers. Continuing this legacy, Andhra Bank was the first bank to introduce several schemes for the agriculture sector including credit cards.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government has decided on a mega amalgamation of banks in the country, as a result, the number of PSBs will be 12 as against 27 now. The Centre is extending financial support of Rs 52,000 crore for reconciliation of balance sheets.

Andhra Bank turned around in the June quarter of 2019-20 financial year, ending its long-streak of losses. The bank recorded a marginal net profit of Rs 52 crore for April-June quarter as against Rs 540-cr net loss in the previous corresponding quarter.

The total income rose 6.77 per cent to Rs 5,437crore from Rs 5,092cr in the previous corresponding quarter. Andhra Bank’s total business rose 9.22 per cent to Rs 33,503 cr in the April-June quarter and advances were up 12.31 per cent to Rs 19.751cr. On the other deposits rose 6.78 per cent to Rs 13,753crore. The bank's net interest income rose 3.13 per cent from 2.94 per cent in the previous corresponding quarter.