Sending a clear directive to Global Trust Bank employees to triple their business, its acquirer Oriental Bank of Commerce has set a growth target of 30 per cent for the combined entity at about Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 800 billion) this fiscal.

"We have asked the GTB unit to triple retail business in 6-12 months. This fiscal, we are looking at 30 per cent growth," OBC chairman B D Narang told PTI.

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Before the merger proposal, OBC had targeted 25 per cent growth in 2004-05.

The Delhi-based bank grew by 21.5 per cent last fiscal and its balance sheet size (deposits and loan advances) was at Rs 56,286 crore (Rs 562.86 billion) in 2003-04. The balance sheet of OBC has increased by Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) to Rs 65,000 crore (Rs 650 billion) after merger.

OBC has given functional freedom to GTB officials to concentrate on retail business by retaining existing customers.

Justifying higher growth in the business of the combined entity, Narang said most of the GTB portfolio was retail and depositors were mostly from high-income group.

"We have taken care of GTB's liquidity and recovery problems. We have asked them to concentrate on retail business," Narang said.

The synergy of hi-tech and customer centric GTB will help OBC achieve a higher profit this fiscal, he said. OBC logged a net profit growth of 50 per cent at Rs 686 crore (Rs 6.86 billion) in 2003-04.