After consolidating its foothold in south India through the acquisition of Global Trust Bank, Delhi-based Oriental Bank of Commerce is now planning to expand in the eastern region where it sees vast scope for business due to mineral reserves, power potential and port facility.
"Eastern region has huge untapped business potential. We will use our surplus money to expand our business in the East, particularly in Orissa," OBC chairman B D Narang told PTI.
Narang said the bank is targeting to open 25-30 new branches in east India in the next two years.
"Orissa will be the hub of business activity as gas based businesses, steel and power units will be set up due to availability of raw materials and port facility," Narang said.
Orissa is rich in natural resources, which holds key to setting up of industries.
In the last one month there had been a flurry of announcements including from the Tatas and Jindals on setting up steel factories in Orissa, besides power units. Reliance has also discovered a huge gas reserve off the Orissa coast.
Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh also offer a lot of scope for business to banks due to presence of mineral stocks, he said.
OBC has greater presence in northern region while GTB has majority of its branches in southern and western India.
After the merger, the combined entity would have 1,350 branches and over 400 ATMs across the nation.
OBC hopes to gain Rs 950 crore (Rs 9.5 billion) from the merger and post a higher 30 per cent growth in business at Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 800 billion) this fiscal.