Page 34 - Banking Finance April 2016
P. 34
PRESS RELEASE
SBI partners with Uber for hassle free vehicle financing
Smt. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman - SBI presenting the key thereby eliminating the long processing time. The
to Mr. Eric Alexander, President of Business, Asia Pacific - Uber partnership with Uber will also help us simplify the
documentation requirements thereby eliminating
State Bank of India (SBI) has been a pioneer in SME lending. traditional financial statements like income tax returns. The
The bank has taken yet another giant leap by partnering product is also in line with our focus on building a risk
with Uber, world's largest on-demand transport aggregation mitigated portfolio, which is aimed at significantly
company, to provide vehicle finance for driver-partners on improving the customer experience." said Rajnish Kumar,
its platform. SBI MD, National Banking Group at the event.
It is State Bank of India's endeavor to fuel growth for micro- "Access to quick and easy finance will provide necessary
entrepreneurs by providing access to quick and low-cost push to the growth of SME segment. The boom of on-
finance. The loans will be sanctioned instantly using an demand transportation business will also provide impetus
inbuilt digital offering. This new product will enable to the MSME sector. A vibrant MSME segment is very
thousands of skilled drivers to overcome liquidity crunch and important to meet the macro-economic goals of the
excess documentation requirements, to become an economy." he added.
entrepreneur.
Founded in 2009 in the US, Uber has operations in almost
All these loans are collateral free and carry a very 400 cities in 68 countries across the world. Uber launched
competitive interest rate. All loans will also get covered its India operations in September 2013, and is currently
under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana Scheme of present across 27 cities in the country, more than any other
Government of India. country outside the US. By seamlessly connecting riders to
drivers through its app, Uber makes cities more accessible,
"The on-demand transportation segment growth has opening up more possibilities for riders and more business
created a whole new ecosystem enabling lakhs of Indians for driver-partners.
to earn livelihood by becoming micro-entrepreneurs on such
platforms. In the process, it has also opened up a new world "India is a global market priority for us; the robust growth
of opportunities for the banking industry, not just in the on- we've seen in India in just about two years is phenomenal.
demand transportation loan space but also in other areas In such a short span of time, we've got over 250,000 driver
like payment wallet, consumer finance etc. It is now upon partners on our platform who have become micro-
us to leverage these opportunities. Doing so requires us to entrepreneurs today. We believe in building deep
think and go beyond the traditional banking products and relationships with India's leading financial services partners
delivery services." SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya that help us drive growth and reach driver partners and
said, after launching the product. consumers across the country. And this unique vehicle
financing program with SBI is one way of building that
"With this new facility, drivers can apply for loans at the relationship. We're excited to create tens of thousands of
Uber Partner Centre and get loans sanctioned in one-day. micro entrepreneurs by enabling them to start their careers
This is supported by our digitally integrated backend system, on the Uber platform, by owning their cars, through this
program with SBI." said Eric Alexander, President of
Business, Asia Pacific at Uber.
SBI and Uber are exploring further collaboration
opportunities on various other areas including a special
scheme for the Faujis who intend to drive on the Uber
platform. Uber India has partnered with the Army Welfare
Placement Organization (AWPO) under the Ministry of
Defence to help ex-servicemen transition to civilian life and
to provide them with entrepreneurial opportunities once
they retire or complete their term of service. The bank is
looking to offer special benefits for UberFauji program.
34 | 2016 | APRIL | BANKING FINANCE
