Maruti Countrywide launches e-loan service

One of India's leading Maruti car financiers, Maruti Countrywide Auto Finance Services (MCAFS) – a joint venture between Maruti Udyog Limited and the Indian subsidiary of GE Capital Services – today announced the launch of a web-based auto loans service.

The service is called Speed e-loans, and has been specially developed for Maruti dealers.

Mr. Sanjay Gupta, chief executive of MCAFS, stated that this service was a logical extension of the other services the company was offering. Reiterating the company’s innovation focus, Mr. Vishal Dhawan, director of MCAFS, added, "Our strategy is market expansion through innovation. We strive not to be competition-focused but market expansion focused. As the largest distributor of car finance across 88 cities in the country, we are looking at market expansion beyond the metros."

The company also hopes to draw from GE Capital Auto Finance Services' expertise in auto loans. The Internet Week's '100 Survey' has awarded that company the recognition of the best 'e-Business of the Year'.

The decision to launch Speed e-loans came from the company’s customer and dealer insights. MCAFS's research showed that the customer going to a dealer, wants an instant approval for a loan. Besides, customers want to avoid documentation before loan approval, and also tangible proof of approval. Dealers, on the other hand, want to ensure that customers walk out with a finance approval, and they want online access to information.

Speed e-loans, according to Mr Dhawan, addresses the needs of both dealer and customer, offering web-based online approval for a car loan, as well as online information management. Within a half-hour of applying for an auto loan from the dealer's showroom, online approval is sent in, with amount, interest rate and time frame specified. And, the customer does not have to furnish any documents. A printout is proof for the customer of the loan approval.

So how does the company manage its risk, if no documentation is asked for? Mr. Dhawan clarified, "After the online loan approval, our representative will go to the customer's home for documented proof. Even if the information (salary/earnings figure) stated by the customer on the online application was not accurate, we can offer him a more suitable package, if necessary."

While Speed e-loans has already been enabled at two dealerships in Mumbai and two in New Delhi, the company plans to cover a majority of its dealers by this year-end. The company, which firmly believes this to be the channel future, plans to target nearly 50-60 per cent of its disbursement volumes to come from Speed e-loans by next year.