Mahindra Finance forayed into the SME finance business in 2012, and the business has grown exponentially since then. Today Mahindra Finance is a key emerging financier in the auto ancillary industry, amongst others.
Talking to MOTORINDIA in an exclusive chat, Mr. R. Balaji, Business Head – SME, Mahindra Finance, says: “When we studied the SME Finance business, we realized that there were a number of gaps between what was needed by the customers and the ‘one size fits all solutions’ provided by various financing institutions. This is where we saw tremendous market potential for financial solutions that are crafted keeping the specific business needs of the customer in the center. Guided by this philosophy, today, in just a matter of 3 years since inception, we have assets under management of more than Rs. 2,180 crores, and are all set to take this business to new heights.”
Successful forays into new product lines is not new for Mahindra Finance, which started in 1992 as a captive financier for Mahindra & Mahindra vehicles, and in just a little over two decades, it has become India’s largest rural NBFC with multiple product lines and assets under management to the tune of Rs. 40,000 crores. In line with this, apart from growing at a rapid rate each year since inception, the SME finance business of Mahindra Finance has scaled up its back-end infrastructure and people capability to support the next phase of growth.
Today the SME Finance Division is a key emerging financier in the Auto Ancillary, Food & Agri Processing industries. “In the beginning, providing finance to customers in the auto ancillary industry was a natural choice for us, since we could leverage the ecosystem of Mahindra & Mahindra Auto. Some of the common problems faced by customers were ‘not getting the right quantum of loan, rigid collateral requirements, uncertainty or delays in loan sanction, and high & inflexible documentation’. As a late entrant in this business, we designed our products keeping the needs of customers in mind, whether it be a small or large vendor, dealer or a service station”, discloses Mr. Balaji.
Mahindra Finance today provides SME loans for purchase of equipment, working capital needs and development of business infrastructure and scores over competition with a host of superior services.
The Business Head details out: “What makes our offering unique is our provision of the right quantum of loan, flexibility in collateral, repayment structure linked to business cycle, quick loan sanction, easy documentation and world-class service. Also the fact that we see ourselves as a strategic partner responsible for the success of our customers, and not just a financer, has helped tremendously. Going ahead we plan to provide growth capital to more companies in the auto ancillary sector, and expand aggressively in other sectors too.”