Public sector lender Andhra Bank has posted a 20.63% rise in net profits for the first quarter of this fiscal. The net profit of the bank stands at Rs 386 crore as compared to Rs 320 crore for the same period a year before that.

The rise in net profits has been attributed to the increase in the net interest income (NII) of the bank at Rs 910 crore.

"Besides growth in NII, better liability management and control over costs also resulted in profit," Mr R. Ramachandran, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) said.

However NPAs of the bank have risen with gross NPAs shooting up to 1.55% and net NPAs rising to 0.45%.

"The NPAs have gone up because of their increase in some sectors, including retail, micro-, mini- and small enterprises and agriculture," Mr Ramachandran said.