State-run Andhra Bank’s chairman and managing director B A Prabhakar on Wednesday attributed the stress on banks’ asset quality to gloom on the economic front and said it would improve only when growth revives.

“The entire banking sector in the country is now facing non performing assets (NPA)-related problems due to the slowdown in the economy for the last 3-4 years,” Prabhakar said at a bank function here. He specifically cited infrastructure as a trouble spot which he said is hurting the banking sector. Andhra Bank’s gross non performing assets for the quarter ended March 31 stood at 3.71 per cent.

Prabhakar, who was in the city for a bank function, said the banking sector’s NPA issues will be sorted out only with a revival on the economic front.

Indian banks’ gross non performing assets climbed up to 3.3 per cent in March 2013, according to the rating agency ICRA. The private banks were better performers on the NPA-management front as compared to the state-run ones with a wider reach.

Prabhakar inaugurated a renovated branch on the city’s Ring Road, offering the latest technological platforms to customers.

This is the third branch under the bank’s newly launched branding christened ‘Nav Shakti’, after two similar branches were opened in Hyderabad.

The bank offers services like 24-hour cash and cheque deposits and a coin dispensing machine, among others at the ’Nav Shakti’ branches.

Prabhakar said 250 branches will be converted into ‘Nav Shakti’ branches in the next 15 months. Deputy General Manager Ravi Kumar was also present on the occasion.

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