Home Credit India, which has its roots in Prague, is exploring tie-ups with leading e-commerce players to offer financing solutions to the next-gen Indian customers who are increasingly inclined to online buying.This is going to be one of the two test projects for the consumer financing company in 2017, chief executive Pavel Maco told ET, in a telephonic interview.
A plan to grow business in the home appliances space is another challenge for the company. It looks to finance refrigerators and washing machines more aggressively with an aim to grow its portfolio three times this year from Rs 1570 crore at the end of December 2016.
In the five years of its existence in India, it has financed 1.8 million mobile phones, making this 90% of its business. Financing of consumer durables accounts for just about 5% of its portfolio. It also finances purchase of two-wheelers.
Indian consumer finance market has grown 16.3% year on year to Rs 19,400 crore at the end of December 23, according to Reserve Bank of India data.
“Our focus this year would be to test out financing options through online channels. The technology linking the Aadhar number will be a game-changer,” said Maco, adding that the company has started discussions with leading players in this space.
Home Credit has expanded footprint to 60 cities across 15 Indian states acquiring a customer base of over 2 million. The Czech company is present across 10 countries in Europe and Asia.
“In India, we would like to repeat the same success like in China,” Maco said. The company entered the Chinese market in 2010 as the first foreign player in the consumer finance space and has managed to offer financing solutions to about 300 million under-banked adults.
Maco said that promoters of the company are ready to pump in more capital to realise the growth opportunities available in the country. “We are receiving fresh capital in every two-three months,” he said.
The company offers in-store financing option (direct non-cash loans in retail outlets) to customers looking to purchase consumer durable goods such as mobile phones and laptops.
It is tapping newer geographies as well as part of the expansion plan and has opened an office in Kolkata last week. It is already present in cities like Delhi NCR, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Mumbai, Nagpur and Hyderabad.
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