Volvo Group launches captive financing arm in India

Global commercial vehicle and construction equipment bigwig Volvo has launched its captive financing arm Volvo Financial Services India to offer its customers in the country easier loans, leasing, maintenance and insurance services.

Volvo's captive finance arm in India will function under the names of Volvo Financial Services and Eicher Financial Service, serving customers of Volvo Trucks, Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Buses, Eicher Trucks and Buses and Volvo Renta.

"Volvo Financial Services is a global enterprise, and being a part of the Volvo Group, we have a strong understanding of the use of products made by the Volvo Group and VE Commercial Vehicles under the Eicher Trucks and Eicher Buses brands, and the industries in which our customers operate in," said Scott Rafkin, Global President, Volvo Financial Services.

Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV), which is now the sole agency to market Volvo and Eicher branded products in the country, is currently the third largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in India. In 2014, VECV sold 36,000 trucks and buses.

The goal of Volvo Financial Services India is to become the leading financial service provider for buyers of Volvo and Eicher products in the country. The captive financing group also expects its Indian arm to be among its top 10-15 markets globally by 2018.

"We look at the whole business cycle. We're not looking to finance one piece of construction equipment or one truck. We're looking at building a relationship over the long term and support our end customers as they grow," said John Rakocy, President of Volvo Financial Services, APAC.

Volvo Financial Services India will launch at six locations initially - Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. While the firm will also offer leasing services, which is dominant global form of vehicle financing, it expects loans to remain the staple in India.