Speaking to reporters in Chennai at the sidelines of STFC's truck utsav R Sridhar,managing director, STFC, said asset under management increased to Rs 18,000 crore last year, from Rs 2,000 crore in 2002. Of the total Rs 18,000 crore assets, 70-75 per cent would be old vehicles while 25 per cent were the existing customers who had gone for upgrade of trucks.
Apart from truck financing, the company is also into tyre and engine financing. Recently, STFC introduced a credit card for STFC customers in association with Axis bank to its customers.
R Thyagarajan, chairman, Shriram Group, said around Rs 20,000 crore was given as credit through STFC by various banks. He added, interest rates for truck financing dropped to 12 per cent from 26-27 per cent.
Speaking about the truck utsav which was inaugurated by KN Nehru, minister for transport, government of Tamil Nadu, on Friday, Sridhar said the idea is to bring all the customers in one place and tell them about the company's new initiative and new schemes, as it is difficult to communicate with our customers in other modes since all of them are truck-owners-cum-drivers, who are always on the move.
During the utsav, various products like tyres, accessories and credit facilities were displayed. It is estimated around 7,000 people including truck-owners and customers of Shriram Transport Finance attended the utsav.
STFC is a flagship company of Shriram group, which has its presence in chit funds, life insurance, consumer durable finance and stock broking finance. Currently the finance company has 450 branch offices with six regional offices across the country. Its equity partners include TPG Bridge, Chryscapital, Citigroup and Axis Bank.
