Bajaj Auto Finance to tap retail

Bajaj Auto Finance Ltd has announced that the Company has major plans to tap the huge potential of retail finance. The company has shown a robust growth of 27% in the first six months of the year and targets disbursal of Rs 2800 Crores for the current fiscal. The company plans to expand its branch network, enhance its direct marketing activity and build on its brand strengths. The Company has a nation-wide network of 107 branches covering more than 250 towns & proposes to further expand its branch network by opening additional branches. The company also has 24 Shoppes, opened with a view to enhance its direct marketing activity and brand awareness. Considering the encouraging response, the company proposes to open additional Shoppes across the country. To cater to the growing business needs and to get information on real time basis, the company has plans to upgrade its IT systems.

The Company on October 26, 2006 has announced the selection of Intellect product suite from the Chennai based Polaris Software Lab. This software will be implemented at all the present and upcoming branches and offices of the Company.

Chennai based Polaris Software Lab, recognized Global Leader in Specialty Application Development in Banking & Financial Services is a leading provider of comprehensive products and solution offering in the banking, financial services and insurance domain. Polaris is among the top 10 global companies focused in this space.

The Program management of the project would be undertaken by IBM, which had assisted Bajaj Auto Ltd in the successful implementation of SAP.

The project christened "Kshitij", was formally launched at the company's Pune office. This project would play a key role in revamping its IT infrastructure that will support its business expansion into wider geographies and enhanced product offerings.

The function launching the project was attended by Mr Arun Jain, CEO and Chairman of Polaris, Sanjiv Bajaj, ED of Bajaj Auto and Mr Ramesh Srinivas, Partner, Global Business Services of IBM. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sanjiv Bajaj, ED, Bajaj Auto Ltd said, "BAFL plans to become a premier retail finance company. The process improvements are being targeted through TPM which is first of its kind in financial services organization. We expect the implementation of the intellect product suite to result into making us into an even more customer focused organization and will enable us to launch new products at a fast pace enabling us to effectively compete in the market."