Allahabad Bank mulls reducing stakes in JV, associate cos to trim bad assets

Public sector Allahabad Bank today said it is mulling to off-load non-core assets like shareholding in various joint ventures and sell immovable properties to shore up its capital base. In compliance with government directives under PSBs Reform Agenda, the bank has initiated various steps to leverage its strengths for focussing on the core business, Allahabad Bank said in a regulatory filing.

"As part of the said initiatives, the bank proposes to sell its non-core assets including divestments of stake in joint ventures, associates, selling some of the immovable properties owned by the bank," it said.

The lender's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) hit a high of 15.96 per cent of the gross advances as on March 31, 2018 which in value terms stood at Rs 26,562.76 crore.

Net NPAs were 8.04 per cent of the net advances at Rs 12,229.13 crore. Allahabad Bank holds 27.04 per cent in asset management company ASREC (India) Ltd, 28.52 per cent in Universal Sompo General Insurance Company.

AllBank Finance is also its wholly owned subsidiary engaged in corporate advisory, project appraisal, issue management, loan syndication and underwriting among others.

Also, its sponsors the Allahabad Bank UP Gramin Bank (AUPGB) is its regional rural bank headquartered at Banda in Uttar Pradesh.

In its annual report 2017-18, Allahabad Bank said it has initiated various measures to arrest fresh slippage and restricted it to Rs 12,903.28 crore during the fiscal ended March 2018.

"To improve asset quality, the bank initiated consistent recovery drive and recovered Rs 3,379.08 crore, out of which cash recovery was Rs 2,071.86 crore with a growth of 28.58 per cent due to concerted efforts, daily monitoring and account specific resolution plan," it said in the report.

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Shares of Allahabad Bank closed 0.47 per cent down at Rs 41.95 on the BSE.