Tata Motors and SBI to offer EV inventory finance to dealers

L-R: Alok Kumar Choudhary, MD (Retail Business & Operations), State Bank of India; Dinesh Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India and Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata Motors PVs & Tata Passenger E-Mobility.

Tata Motors is fast upping the ante also on the electric vehicle front. The electric passenger vehicle market leader has joined forces with the country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, to offer Electronic Dealer Finance Solution (e-DFS) to its authorised passenger EV dealers.

Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility said, “To ensure we have faster EV adoption in the country, it is very important to have a strong network and empowered channel partners. By partnering with State Bank of India, we have taken another step in this direction. They are India’s largest public sector bank with an extensive network and we are delighted to partner with them. We want to provide an exclusive financing program to our authorised electric passenger vehicle dealers, who will play an important role in driving the green mobility mission.”

Speaking of this partnership, Dinesh Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India said, “We are delighted to enter into this agreement with Tata Motors, as this gives us an opportunity to deepen our longstanding partnership in dealer Finance program. This also offers us the satisfaction of being able to contribute towards a greener tomorrow, as these lines of credit will be available for financing authorised dealers of Tata Motors’ Passenger Electric Vehicles. We are confident that this would go a long way towards promoting EV culture and adoption in the country.”

Tata’s EV sales on a roll
Tata Motors is currently averaging monthly EV sales of 2,469 units as it drives towards its 50,000 EVs target this fiscal. The company, which currently has over 30,000 of its EVs on Indian roads across the personal and fleet segments, has a commanding EV market share of 89% in Q1 FY2023.

Tata Motors, which at present has three models– the Nexon EV, Tigor EV and fleet-only XPres-T EV – is looking to aggressively expand its EV portfolio. It is understood that there are 10 new EVs to be added in the next few years as the company looks to increase its EV presence and also keep new competition at bay. As is known, Mahindra & Mahindra is all set to unveil five new electric SUVs on August 15, 2022.

Tata Motors is firing on all cylinders at the present moment – in July 2022, it notched its highest-ever dealer despatches at 47,505 units, up 57% (July 2021: 30,185) comprising 43,483 ICE PVs (July 2021: 29,581 / +46%) and 4,022 EVs, up 565% (July 2021: 604 units).

In Q1 FY2023, Tata Motors saw month-on-month increase in demand and its retail sales were just two units shy of the 7,000-unit mark. Wholesales in the April-June 2022 period were 9,283 units, which means the company has kept its showrooms well stocked with its EV machines.

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