Calcutta, June 26: Exim Bank of India will raise its stake in Global Trade Finance (GTF) from the present 35 per cent to 40 per cent.

GTF was formed in 2001 as a joint venture between Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (West LB), which is a trade finance products major, Washington-based IFC and Exim Bank. While West LB held a 40 per cent stake in the company, Exim Bank’s holding was 35 per cent and IFC’s 25 per cent.

Now West LB is pulling out of the venture and while Exim Bank will raise its share to 40 per cent, the remaining stake will be with Malta-based First International Merchant Bank (38.5 per cent), IFC (12.5 per cent) and Bank of Maharashtra (9 per cent).

The company has a paid-up capital of Rs 45 crore and offers structured foreign trade finance products such as forfeiting and factoring to Indian exporters.

Exim Bank executive director V. Sridhar said, “We also plan to enter the domestic factoring business through GTF during the current fiscal. We feel that there is a huge potential in the domestic market and have already put our business plan in place for channel financing.”

The bank expects a 25 per cent growth this year and targets a turnover of over Rs 14,000 crore as against Rs 10,775 crore achieved last year. The bank has a capital worth of Rs 2145 crore.

“This year we expect to raise a total of Rs 7000 crore, of which $800 million will be mainly through the international syndicated loan market,” said Sridhar.