The Andhra Pradesh State Financial Corporation (APSFC) has recently cut interest rates and is focusing on extending loans to the MSMEs, the service sector and commercial and residential projects, according to Managing Director WVR Murthy.

He was speaking here on June 23, 2016 after launching a business development campaign for the four districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari.

He said 53 proposals worth Rs. 229 crore had been received from entrepreneurs and others in the four districts and “nearly 70 per cent of the amount will be sanctioned and disbursed.”

He said the maximum number of proposals (nine) were in the food processing and agri-business sector, amounting to Rs. 50 crore , followed by software units (eight) amounting to more than Rs. 40 crore. He said the APSFC had recently cut interest rates by 50 points and the minimum lending rate at present was 12.5 per cent, which is higher by one per cent or so more than that offered by commercial banks. “We borrow from banks and lend it to the units. We do not have refinance facility,” he said.

Last year (2015-16), the APSFC had disbursed Rs. 450 crore and the target for the year is Rs. 750 crore. “It’s ambitious but we are confident of achieving it,” he said.

Murthy said business development campaigns would also be held at Vijayawada on June 24 and at Tirupati on June 30.

He said the APSFC was rated to be the best in the country. He said the process of bifurcating the APSFC was going on, with a separate division for Telangana. Recently, it had set up an office in Kakinada and one more soon in Chittoor.

Source: Business Line