TVS Fin ties up with postal dept

TVS Finance and Services and the Department of Posts, Tamil Nadu, have entered into a marketing agreement to launch a scheme called 'Postman Akshaya'.

Under the scheme, post offices in the state will sell the loan products of TVS Finance as a franchisee of the company in rural and semi-urban markets.

This tie-up is an extension of the already existing relationship between the Department of Posts and TVS Finance, under which the customers of TVS Finance are allowed to do their transactions in the post offices by opening a savings bank account.

Addressing a press conference, V Ramesh, president, TVS Finance and Services, said the tie-up was intended to offer small ticket loans up to Rs 50,000 and customers could purchase two-wheelers, consumer durables and personal computers through the scheme.

As part of the tie-up, postmen will carry loan order forms with them when on duty and customers can use the forms to request loans.

Completed forms can be sent through the postmen and the representatives of TVS Finance would collect the forms on a daily basis. The company would issue its approval within four days and the customers will get it through postmen.

The company expects a business worth Rs 20 crore in the first year through this scheme and the department would get about Rs 3 lakh as its commission. However, the commission is not fixed and would vary from 3-8 per cent depending on the type of the loan.

The scheme will officially be launched at Madurai and Tirunelveli on August 25. It will be launched in other districts of the state over the next few months.

Vatsala Raghu, member, postal services, Department of Posts, said the initiative was a small step in its objective of getting into micro-credit business. The Department of Posts, Tamil Nadu, has 11,200 post offices and 12,000 postmen in the state.