diff --git a/inference-engine/src/inference_engine/src/ie_core.cpp b/inference-engine/src/inference_engine/src/ie_core.cpp
index 16f5acf1f6f..352f938c142 100644
--- a/inference-engine/src/inference_engine/src/ie_core.cpp
+++ b/inference-engine/src/inference_engine/src/ie_core.cpp
@@ -540,28 +540,43 @@ public:
                                                 const std::string& deviceNameOrig,
                                                 const std::map<std::string, std::string>& config) override {
         OV_ITT_SCOPE(FIRST_INFERENCE, ie::itt::domains::IE_LT, "Core::LoadNetwork::CNN");
-        std::string deviceName = deviceNameOrig;
+        std::string deviceName = deviceNameOrig, deviceNameWithBatchSize;
         std::map<std::string, std::string> config_with_batch = config;
 
+        if (deviceName.find("BATCH") != std::string::npos) {
+            auto pos = deviceName.find_first_of(":");
+            if (pos != std::string::npos) {
+                deviceNameWithBatchSize = deviceName.substr(pos + 1);
+                config_with_batch[CONFIG_KEY(ALLOW_AUTO_BATCHING)] = CONFIG_VALUE(YES);
+            }
+        }
+
         const auto& batch_mode = config_with_batch.find(CONFIG_KEY(ALLOW_AUTO_BATCHING));
         if (batch_mode != config_with_batch.end() && batch_mode->second == CONFIG_VALUE(YES)) {
-            std::map<std::string, ie::Parameter> options;
-            options["MODEL_ADDRESS"] = &network;
-            auto optimalBatchSize = GetCPPPluginByName(DeviceIDParser(deviceNameOrig).getDeviceName())
-                                        .get_metric(METRIC_KEY(OPTIMAL_BATCH), options)
-                                        .as<unsigned int>();
+            auto deviceNameWithoutBatch = !deviceNameWithBatchSize.empty()
+                                     ? DeviceIDParser::getBatchDevice(deviceNameWithBatchSize)
+                                     : deviceNameOrig;
             unsigned int requests = 0;
-            try {
-                auto res = GetConfig(deviceNameOrig, CONFIG_KEY(PERFORMANCE_HINT_NUM_REQUESTS)).as<std::string>();
-                requests = PerfHintsConfig::CheckPerformanceHintRequestValue(res);
-            } catch (...) {
-            }
-            const auto& reqs = config.find(CONFIG_KEY(PERFORMANCE_HINT_NUM_REQUESTS));
-            if (reqs != config.end())
-                requests = (unsigned int)PerfHintsConfig::CheckPerformanceHintRequestValue(reqs->second);
-            if (requests) {
-                std::cout << "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Detected reqs_limitation: " << requests << std::endl;
-                optimalBatchSize = std::min(requests, optimalBatchSize);
+            unsigned int optimalBatchSize = 0;
+            if (deviceNameWithBatchSize.empty()) { // batch size is not set explicitly via device name e.g. BATCH:GPU(4)
+                // query the optimal batch size
+                try {
+                    std::map<std::string, ie::Parameter> options;
+                    options["MODEL_ADDRESS"] = &network;
+                    optimalBatchSize = GetCPPPluginByName(DeviceIDParser(deviceNameWithoutBatch).getDeviceName())
+                            .get_metric(METRIC_KEY(OPTIMAL_BATCH), options)
+                            .as<unsigned int>();
+                    auto res = GetConfig(deviceNameWithoutBatch, CONFIG_KEY(PERFORMANCE_HINT_NUM_REQUESTS)).as<std::string>();
+                    requests = PerfHintsConfig::CheckPerformanceHintRequestValue(res);
+                    const auto &reqs = config.find(CONFIG_KEY(PERFORMANCE_HINT_NUM_REQUESTS));
+                    if (reqs != config.end())
+                        requests = (unsigned int) PerfHintsConfig::CheckPerformanceHintRequestValue(reqs->second);
+                    if (requests) {
+                        std::cout << "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Detected reqs_limitation: " << requests << std::endl;
+                        optimalBatchSize = std::max(1u, std::min(requests, optimalBatchSize));
+                    }
+                } catch (...) {
+                }
             }
             auto function = network.getFunction();
             bool bDetectionOutput = false;
@@ -577,7 +592,7 @@ public:
                 if (!std::strcmp("DetectionOutput", node->get_type_info().name) ||
                     (!std::strcmp("Result", node->get_type_info().name) && isDetectionOutputParent(node))) {
                     node->get_rt_info()["affinity"] =
-                        std::make_shared<ngraph::VariantWrapper<std::string>>(deviceNameOrig);
+                        std::make_shared<ngraph::VariantWrapper<std::string>>(deviceNameWithoutBatch);
                     std::cout << "!!! AFF !!! type: " << node->get_type_info().name
                               << ", name: " << node->get_friendly_name() << std::endl;
                     bDetectionOutput = true;
@@ -585,16 +600,17 @@ public:
                     node->get_rt_info()["affinity"] = std::make_shared<ngraph::VariantWrapper<std::string>>("BATCH");
                 }
             }
-            if (optimalBatchSize > 1) {
+            if (optimalBatchSize > 1 || !deviceNameWithBatchSize.empty()) {
+                auto batchConfig = deviceNameWithBatchSize.empty()
+                              ? deviceNameWithoutBatch + "(" + std::to_string(optimalBatchSize) + ")"
+                              : deviceNameWithBatchSize;
                 if (bDetectionOutput) {
-                    deviceName = "HETERO:BATCH," + deviceNameOrig;
+                    deviceName = "HETERO:BATCH," + deviceNameWithoutBatch;
                     std::cout << "HETERO code path!!!!" << std::endl;
-                    // config["AUTO_BATCH"] = deviceNameOrig+"("+ std::to_string(optimalBatchSize)+ ")";
-                    SetConfigForPlugins({{"AUTO_BATCH", deviceNameOrig + "(" + std::to_string(optimalBatchSize) + ")"}},
-                                        "BATCH");
+                    // config_with_batch[CONFIG_KEY(AUTO_BATCH)] = batchConfig;
+                    SetConfigForPlugins({{CONFIG_KEY(AUTO_BATCH), batchConfig}},"BATCH");
                 } else {
-                    std::string deviceBatch = "BATCH:" + deviceNameOrig + "(" + std::to_string(optimalBatchSize) + ")";
-                    deviceName = deviceBatch;
+                    deviceName = "BATCH:" + batchConfig;
                 }
             }
             config_with_batch.erase(batch_mode);