Comments
The country’s second-largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto has announced a tie-up with State Bank of India to offer inventory finance to its dealers.
“We are glad to partner with SBI who have the largest network of more than 13,000 branches spread across the nook and corner of the country,” the Bajaj Auto President (Motorcycles), Mr S. Sridhar, said.
The SBI Chief General Manager (Small & Medium Enterprises), Mr Manas Kumar Nag, said: “The electronic dealer finance platform is a premium product from SBI through which we shall partner the growth ambitions of Bajaj Auto by providing the best-in-class customer experience to their dealers.”
Under the agreement, a cash credit facility ranging between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 5 crore will be made available to Bajaj Auto dealers who predominantly fall in the small and medium enterprise (SME) category. The loans will be sanctioned and disbursed subject to necessary approvals at a competitive interest rate, the company said in a statement today.
The inventory finance innovation comes after the company recorded its highest-ever sales of more than 2.4 million motorcycles during 2010-2011.
“Timely availability of finance is a crucial component in the scheme of things. Our domestic bike sales have grown at 35 per cent last year. With new models and variants being launched and increased acceptance of existing models, we will need to ensure adequate working capital for dealers”, Mr Sridhar said.
Bajaj Auto has ambitious growth plans this year as well.
Hence, higher inventories at the dealer level as well as secondary network are expected during this fiscal, the company said, adding that higher inventories would mean higher working capital requirements at the dealer level.
“Considering these requirements we have taken proactive steps to provide critical resources, including financing through SBI, to our dealers,” Mr Sridhar added.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.