Volkswagen Finance Pvt. Ltd. granted NBFC license by RBI

Volkswagen Finance Private Limited (‘VWFPL’) has been granted a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) licence by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), enabling it to make its first offering to the Indian market with 3 product lines – VW Finance, Skoda Finance, Audi finance. Customers can avail of financing options at any of the 164 dealer outlets of its brands Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen. Volkswagen Finance Private Limited is headquartered in Mumbai and is making an initial investment of over US$ 24 million in India. The RBI license enables the company to offer customers of VW, Skoda and Audi cars the opportunity of a wide range of financial services including bundled 3-in-1 packages consisting of financing, insurance and maintenance. This enables the customers in effect to walk into a dealer showroom and drive out with the vehicle of their choice. Globally, Volkswagen Financial Services (VWF) provides captive financial services for its brand cars and supports vehicle sales in 38 countries. Joern Achim Kurzrock, Chairman of the board of VWF India, said, “India being one of the fastest-growing economies, VWF India wants to present itself in the Indian market as a mobility provider with products which fully respect the needs of VW, SKODA and AUDI customers. Our focus is to support sales of our branded vehicles to customers. That’s why we are coming with 3 product lines -- VW, SKODA and AUDI Finance -- to focus on specific needs of each customer segment. Besides classical financing we are also introducing a bundled loan with insurance and maintenance packages and become a one-stop shop to support the sales of our brand vehicles in India”. Volkswagen Financial Services (‘VWFS’) AG is a 100 pc owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG and is headquartered in Braunschweig, Germany. It is backed by Europe’s largest auto finance company with a global customer base of over 6 million. In India, VWFS will operate through Volkswagen Finance Private Limited (‘VWFPL’), incorporated in 2009. VWFPL is a subsidiary of Volkswagen Financial Services AG, Germany. With this announcement, Volkswagen Financial Services will be able to further strengthen its services and support the mobility needs of customers by offering loans and gain efficient market penetration. It is to be mentioned that Volkswagen Financial Services (‘VWFS’) AG is a 100% owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG and has its headquarters in Braunschweig, Germany. It is responsible for coordinating the worldwide financial services activities of the Volkswagen Group. As on 31 December 2010, total assets of VWFS amounted to approximately EUR 65 billion, with net income of EUR 0.6 billion. The company has employee strength of 6,797.