Public sector lenders, Allahabad Bank and UCO Bank have decided to concentrate on retail lending portfolio this fiscal. With base rate getting implemented, the banks have decided to focus more on low cost deposits and strive to increase the share of retail loans as a part of the total advance book of the banks, said their top bosses.

Allahabad Bank is aiming to disburse Rs 5,000 crore in housing, education and car loans in the current financial year. The bank has posted 35.18% growth in net profit on a year-on-year basis at Rs 347.14 crore.

"By the end of June this year, our retail loan outstanding stood at Rs 10,517.77 crore, up 25.98 per cent from Rs 8,348.96 crore at the end of June 2009. We aim to take it to Rs 14,000 crore by March 2011, an increase of 39 per cent," said J.P. Dua, chairman and managing director of Allahabad Bank.

The first quarter of this fiscal saw retail credit offtake of the bank worth Rs 671.83 crore. Total business increased 22.36 per cent to Rs 1,84,039 crore.

UCO Bank has a comparatively smaller retail loan book of Rs 9,273 crore. "Currently, retail lending is only 13 per cent of our total advances and we are aiming to increase its share to at least 20 per cent by the end of the current financial year," said Ajai Kumar, executive director of Uco Bank.

"We expect the advances to grow by 25 per cent," he said.