RBI opens regional office in Vijayawada, AP Chambers welcomes decision

The regional office of Reserve Bank of India has been relocated from Hyderabad to Vijayawada on the recommendation of the State Government.

While the new office will handle various functions, the currency operations will continue to be manned by the RBI's regional office in Hyderabad. Andhra Pradesh Government has offered allotment of a suitable site at Amaravati to the RBI for construction of a specious building with quarters for the employees. The new office will operate with various sections to handle integrated banking, financial inclusion, foreign exchange, centralised establishment section, audit budget and control cells.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation (AP Chambers) wrote to Sanjay Malhotra, RBI Governor and expressed its gratitude to the bank and the Union Government for establishing an RBI regional office in Vijayawada.

AP Chambers also welcomed the appointment of Attah Omar Basheer as Regional Director and expressed confidence in his leadership. In its representation to the RBI Governor, AP Chambers called this move a vote of confidence in the State’s economic potential. The Chambers stated that it is a monumental step for Andhra Pradesh’s financial ecosystem and reflects RBI’s commitment to decentralised financial governance and inclusive development. AP

Chambers submitted key suggestions to strengthen the MSME sector, which is vital to Andhra Pradesh’s growth. Some of the key suggestions that AP Chambers submitted to RBI are: to expand access to Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), accept agricultural land as loan collateral for MSMEs, cap SME loan interest rates at 9%, reduce credit rating dependence for MSMEs, extend NPA classification period to 180 days, establish a permanent MSME loan restructuring framework, mandate TReDS participation for large corporates/PSUs on onboarding of MSMEs on TReDS platform, promote digital lending and alternate credit scoring MSMEs, and offer financial literacy and risk training for MSMEs.

Chambers president Potluri Bhaskara Rao on Tuesday suggested extending lending incentives to banks and NBFCs that actively lend to women-led, SC/ST, and rural MSMEs. AP Chambers requested RBI to conduct regular ‘Town Hall’ meetings to address the concerns of MSMEs.

He also expressed AP Chambers' readiness to work closely with the new RBI regional office in Vijayawada to strengthen industry-regulator dialogue and support financial literacy

and inclusion initiatives at the grassroots level.