Hyderabad, May 21 (KNN) The Andhra Bank has set for itself a target of Rs 2,75,000 crore focusing on priority sector lending, which includes deposits to the tune of Rs 1,50,000 crore in the present fiscal.

Enthused by an encouraging business of Rs 2,23,933 crore including deposit of Rs 1,00,138 crore during last fiscal, the bank has planned to step up advances to Rs 1,25,000 crore, General Manager of the public sector bank informed the media in Ongole in the Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh.

''About Fifty per cent of the total advances will go to agriculture, small and medium scale industries and also the retail sector,'' he added.

The bank will also set up on-site ATMS in the uncovered brick and mortar branches during the year.

The number of such branches in Prakasam district was 39, he added.

On customers dissatisfied over functioning of Automated Teller Machines(ATMs) and other issues, he urged them to send an SMS to its customer relations centre saying 'upset' to mobile no: 9666606060.  ''We will keep track of all complaints till they are resolved,” he assured.

Furthermore, he said the bank was fully geared up to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under phase I in the districts of East Godavari, Anantapur, Chitoor, Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad, where it had a large presence.

Though he was disappointed that only 57,000 customers had registered for getting alerts on their mobile phones even though the bank had over 12 lakh accounts, he urged them to make use of the facility to prevent any fraudulent transactions.  (KNN)