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The company has floated a new JV with the UK-based Automobile Association to form TVS Auto Assist (India) Ltd.
The 51:49 JV company will invest around Rs 100 crore and it would offer breakdown services to customers. It will provide services to OEMs, insurance companies and other corporate customers, said R Dinesh, director, TVS Automobile Solutions.
Srikanth Srinivasan, head of RSA business in TVS Automobile Solutions, will be the new CEO of the JV.
“We (TVS) will get best practices and global access through this JV,” said Dinesh adding that besides India, the JV will focus Middle East, Asia and Africa.
At present, RSA business contributes around Rs 40 crore to TVS Automobile Solutions, and Dinesh said that in the next three years, it had the potential to reach Rs 500 crore, and Rs 1,000 crore in the next five years. Major chunk of it would come from India.
While terming the JV as a "game changer", Dinesh said TVS is one of the leading companies when it comes to provide breakdown services in India. “In India we could manage on our own, but for emerging markets, we need partner like AA.”
He added, through this association, the company can provide similar service experience to multinational automobile brands present in India as well as in other overseas markets.
To start with, the brand 'TVS AA' will cater B2B and it will provide breakdown assistance services to all automobiles ranging from two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and commercial vehicles. With vehicles sales expected to increase significantly in India, there is a real opportunity for this JV to cater B2C market as well, said Dinesh.
G Srinivasa Raghavan, Executive Director, TVS ASL said that the company will expand its car garages to 500 franchisees in the next three years from the current 48 across the country. At present the company is one of the largest organised truck parts retail chain with about 50 stores (franchisee model) and it will be increased to 250 by 2018 and distribution of parts is about to reach 6,000 plus retailers.
He claimed that the company got about one million customers across the country, with about 4,000 plus authorised services providers with 15000 plus technicians. “Our call centre handles around 3,000 calls every day,” he added.
The JV will now help to expand the business to other parts of the world, especially in emerging markets, will help the company to expand its range of services, customer experience and will increase the technology capabilities.
