OBC biz rises to Rs 70,000cr till Dec

Ahead of its Rs 1,800 crore public offer, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) increased its business to Rs 70,000 crore till December 2004 from Rs 55,000 crore in March 2004.

The Delhi-based bank performed "excellently" in the third quarter even after taking over the ailing Global Trust Bank.

"OBC has performed excellently in the third quarter and the business has touched Rs 70,000 crore," OBC Chairman B D Barang told PTI.

To sustain the growth in business, OBC plans to hike its capital through its second public offer of about Rs 1,800 crore by March end.

The bank's balance sheet increased to Rs 6,000 crore after the merger of GTB in August.

"The GTB unit performance was impressive and Rs 125 crore bad loans have been recovered by December," Narang said.

OBC aims to recover Rs 250 crore bad loans of erstwhile GTB by the end of this fiscal, Narang said, adding another Rs 700-800 crore bad loans have been upgraded.

"We expect GTB to contribute Rs 150-200 crore annually to the profit of OBC," Narang said.

OBC will raise upto Rs 1,800 crore through its second public offer of five crore equity shares of Rs 10 each. The price band of the issue will be decided after it gets clearance from government and regulators RBI and Sebi.

The government is expected to give its nod for the issue in a couple of weeks that will bring down centre's holding in the bank to 53% from 68%.