Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL), a 100% owned subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Ltd, has signed up a strategic pact with Pune-based three-wheeler maker Kumar Motors Pvt Ltd for funding commercial vehicles (CV).

According to the deal, RFL, a non-banking finance company, would provide funding to the customers of Kumar Motors in the Southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kanataka and Andhra Pradesh. It would create a pan-India presence gradually.

While addressing a press meeting on Thursday, Shachindra Nath, chief operating officer, Religare Enterprises, stated that the recent deal will be on an exclusive basis in the category of light commercial vehicles.

The term for the contract is one year, which will be renewed after completion of the said period.

Mr. Nath said, “The three-wheeler transportation acccounts for over 70% of all cargo movement in the country and the sheer of the industry offers significant opportunity for us. This strategic tie-up will help us providing comprehensive suit of finance products and services.”

“We are looking at a Rs 100-crore business in the first year of financing,” Mr. Nath added.

Mr. Rajeev K Nair, managing director, Kumar Motors told, “The tie up is the result of consistent efforts to become one of the major player in the three-wheeler industry and to achieve 3% market share of the 6,00,000 units industry in next two years.”

“We have just started selling in a few pockets of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra and has sold 1,500 vehicles so far in the last 8 months or so. With this financial tie up we expect to sell 10,000 units in the current fiscal,” he said.

“Our products are uniquely designed and will be available in six models in diesel version. We have competitively priced at Rs 75,000 a unit. We will also introduce the LPG and CNG versions in the near future,” he added.

The company has nearly 20 dealers spread across the country who have been also trained to assemble vehicles at their facilities.

“We plan to establish assembly units in Egypt, Africa and other places.” South considered to be the largest market for us and we will roll out first in all the southern Markets,” he also said.

Shares of the company, on Thursday, gained 0.12%, to settle at Rs 375.9 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The total volume of shares traded was 17,880 at the BSE.