AMU Leasing is a pivotal player in the drive towards a greener environment, offering exclusive Electric Vehicle (EV) financing solutions in India. As a leading woman-led Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), it is committed to the EV ecosystem, playing a vital role in accelerating the adoption of clean and sustainable mobility in both urban and rural geographies. With a track record of helping 4,000+ customers generate Rs. 50 crore in revenue via new EVs, AMU Leasing firmly upholds environmental sustainability.
In an exclusive interview with TheCSRUniverse, Ms. Nehal Gupta, Director at AMU Leasing and EMFAI (Electric Mobility Financiers Association of India), sheds light on the company's mission and its significance in the context of environmental sustainability. AMU Leasing's primary objective is to promote financial inclusion in India's Tier-II and III cities and towns, particularly within the EV sector. The company also aims to empower individuals, support self-employment, and prioritize sustainable development and renewable energy adoption. Furthermore, AMU Leasing’s immediate goal is to finance 1 million EVs by 2027, showcasing their dedication to driving widespread EV adoption.
Additionally, Ms. Gupta outlines the company's broader social initiatives, emphasizing inclusivity, diversity, and sustainability in finance and technology.
To delve deeper into this insightful discussion, please read the full interview below.
Q&A
Q. What factors contributed to the establishment of AMU Leasing, and what are the primary goals and aspirations that drive the company's mission?
A. Our mission is to promote financial inclusion in India's Tier-II and III cities and towns by providing timely assistance and support to our customers. We specialize in catering to the unique financial needs of those in the EV ecosystem, and our team is committed to supporting the country's initiative towards generating self-employment and micro-entrepreneurship for citizens. By providing financing options for alternate fuel-based mobility, our team aims to help individuals increase their revenue generation and sustain their livelihoods.
As a team, we prioritize sustainable development and promoting renewable energy adoption above all. AMU Leasing’s immediate goal is to finance 1 million EVs by 2027 while maintaining a high standard of customer service. Our aspiration to become the leading lender in the sustainable financing ecosystem by 2025 keeps us highly driven and motivated in our quest.
Q. Could you elaborate on how AMU Leasing's exclusive focus on the EV ecosystem contributes to environmental sustainability and clean mobility? How do your financing solutions align with this commitment?
A. As a team, we work hard to make it easier for individuals to lease or purchase EVs in the country. I believe, our focus on the EV ecosystem is a big step towards promoting clean mobility and environmental sustainability in the country.
By providing timely access to credit to individuals and entities, AMU Leasing is helping to accelerate the seamless adoption of Electric Vehicles. This is because optimum financing solutions are crucial for promoting the switch to EVs, which serve as greener alternatives to fuel-based vehicles. Moreover, these vehicles produce zero emissions, making them essential to fight against climate change. I feel that by helping individuals access required financing solutions to lease or purchase EVs, we are contributing towards creating a more sustainable future for all of us.
Q. As a women-led initiative, could you highlight AMU Leasing's broader social interventions?
A. Our broader social interventions go beyond EVs to foster inclusivity, diversity, and sustainability. We are committed to empowering women-led businesses, educating the masses about financial independence, and supporting sustainability initiatives such as energy efficiency and renewable energy. Recently we launched our 'Swachh, Swasth, aur Suraksha' campaign that can serve as a testament to AMU Leasing’s commitment to driving financial inclusion and empowering women.
During the campaign, we connected with more than 120 women from different age groups and backgrounds to educate them about the importance of menstrual hygiene and maintaining healthy financial habits for female borrowers. Following the outreach, we recorded an 85% increase in recovery from them, highlighting its impact on promoting financial inclusion.
Our company emphasizes empowering women-led businesses and providing them with the necessary support so that they can lead the clean-tech industry. Moreover, by keeping the process of availing and repaying EV finance quick and simple we promote inclusivity so that individuals from all walks of life can reap benefits.
Q. AMU Leasing aims to align with India's self-employment initiatives. How does your commitment to the alternate fuel-based transportation sector contribute to generating income for self-employed individuals?
A. AMU Leasing's commitment to promoting the adoption of an alternate fuel-based transportation sector aligns perfectly with our country’s mission to generate self-employment opportunities. We believe the consumer incentive for buying an EV is sustainable revenue generation.
As an NBFC, we strive to offer affordable and customized financing solutions for EVs, helping individuals look at electric vehicle products as a means to become self-employed. So far, we have helped more than 4,000 customers generate more than INR 500 million in revenue through the new EVs they use for passenger and commercial purposes, contributing significantly to their income. We aim to increase these figures by simplifying credit access to EV financing.
Our current strategy for business growth includes entering new markets, especially in the Tier-II and III cities through collaborations. I feel this will help us align our goal to become a leading EV financial solutions provider in India. We also harbour plans to optimize our branches and operations to maintain efficiency and quality customer service. Our commitment to alternate fuel-based transportation continues to generate income opportunities, and we have several success stories of our customers who have benefitted from our services.
Q. How has AMU Leasing's two-decade presence in the BFSI industry contributed to sustainable mobility? Could you provide examples of your financing services benefiting customers by enabling EV access and supporting environmental goals?
A. AMU Leasing took the first mover advantage and started financing EVs, and since then we have been making significant contributions towards sustainable mobility. Through our journey, we have also delivered on our promise of providing innovative financing solutions to all our customers. It has allowed us to amplify the access to EV among entities and parallelly support endeavors towards achieving our environmental goals. The market for EV financing is expected to grow to Rs. 40,000 crores by 2030, and we hope to contribute significantly to that.
While there are several examples of how our organization has helped individuals benefit financially, all of them are aimed at creating sustainable livelihood opportunities and helping them navigate the complex territory of EV financing.
Q. Moreover, how do you educate and raise awareness among potential customers about the long-term advantages of choosing electric vehicles?
A. As an organization, we proactively educate the masses about the long-term benefits of EVs. We make it a point to engage in several outreach endeavors to educate our customers on how switching to EVs can benefit them, their environment, and more importantly, their communities. Our awareness campaigns are also directed at our potential customers to help them navigate the gap between EV financing and the benefits that accompany alternate fuel-based transportation. We are always on the lookout to educate our customers on how we can help them obtain efficient financing solutions and the virtue of being financially independent. We utilize both word of mouth, physical approach, and technology to help us reach out to our customers and spread awareness about the existence and role of the EV ecosystem. This is how we disseminate information about the environmental repercussions of switching to EVs and direct them toward the most suitable financing solution to help them meet their goals.
Q. Could you quantify the impact your financing solutions have had so far in terms of increased EV adoption and its corresponding environmental benefits?
A. AMU Leasing's financing solutions have made a notable impact on EV adoption in India, and we continue to work harder towards expanding our footprints. As discussed, we have already served more than 4,000 clients and helped generate over INR 500 Million in revenue. This has helped us make significant contributions towards reducing carbon emissions and tackling the issue of air pollution. We plan on helping 1 million clients in the next few years and helping them become more self-reliant. As we help more entities access EV financing and switch to cleaner mobility solutions, we expect to make more impactful contributions to the environment.
Through this, we want to boost the adoption of EVs in not just urban but also in rural areas. By serving as a bridge between our clients and EVs, we intend to help work toward the greater good of the community.
Q. Given your focus on advancing clean mobility through financing, have there been notable challenges in this pursuit? How has the company successfully managed these challenges to achieve its objectives?
A. AMU Leasing faced several challenges in pursuing our commitment to the clean mobility initiative through easy financing. This is because the lending process for EVs differs vastly from traditional vehicles. However, the lack of awareness about the advantages of EVs and individual’s reluctance to switch due to high upfront costs were the major barriers at first. Plus, assessing EV vehicles and their OEMs is complex, which further complicates the process for lenders like us.
However, we understood early in our journey that financing EVs demands a thorough understanding of the technology and effective risk mitigation. To reach out to prospective customers and educate them about the benefits of EVs, we prioritized outreach programs and offered them customized financing solutions. Our team worked tirelessly to improve customer service through innovative solutions, ensuring timely assistance. As a result, we successfully tamed these issues and continue to scale our objectives.
Q. How does the company leverage AI and technology to provide innovative financing solutions?
A. I believe that the adoption of technology is crucial for driving overall customer engagement and uptake in EV financing. So, at AMU Leasing, we leverage AI and technology to provide innovative financing solutions that enable customers to access EVs while contributing to our environmental goals. We use data analytics to identify customers and offer customized financing solutions that cater to their needs. Our technology helps us quickly analyze customer profiles, highlighting key details such as income, credit score, and preferred downpayment amount. Once we identify our potential customers, we offer them suitable solutions. We allow customers to apply for financial support through our online platforms, enabling them to access finance quickly.
Our use of advanced technologies like AI and Machine Learning has further enabled us to ensure accurate risk assessment and assess the customer's creditworthiness, streamlining the approval processes and reducing decision-making time.
Our strategic partnerships with AI-powered data and decision-making platform Provenir further help us to facilitate risk decisions and seamless loan disbursal and payment collections, contributing to customer satisfaction. At AMU Leasing, we are committed to tapping into evolving technological innovations to improve our services and EV loan products.
Q. Can you shed some light on your key partnerships in the EV financing market and how these collaborations work towards a more sustainable future? What more can be done to expedite efforts?
A. I believe that customers are more receptive to digital collections and payments owing to the convenience of phone transactions and UPI. Hence, our strategic partnerships with merchant banks like Airtel and UPI portals like Paytm have enabled our team to facilitate seamless payment collections, adding to customer satisfaction and ensuring timely repayments. We also use Provenir's industry-leading AI-powered Data and Decisioning Platform to facilitate effective risk decisions and management, and our tie-up with IN-D has helped us to automate EV financing.
With our partnerships in the EV financing space, we aim to develop an expansive network that works to make the future more sustainable. By focusing on Tier II, III, and IV regions, we aim to address the diverse needs of the customers and make them more financially resourceful. However, to expedite our endeavours we need more strategic partnerships in place, especially with the government, PSUs, and leading stakeholders of the EV industry. I believe meaningful collaborations can help us achieve our goals faster.
Q. As the Director at AMU Leasing, how do you see the company's role evolving in the ever-changing landscape of the EV market? Are there any upcoming advancements or trends you're particularly excited about?
A. As the Director of AMU Leasing, I envision our company to play a leading role in this evolving EV market. We will implement this by constantly expanding our services and providing innovative financing solutions to customers at each step. I hope we can scale the market to expand our offerings beyond the borders and cater to the needs of customers globally. I believe we will have a lot to offer in the future, especially amid the rapidly developing trends and technological innovations. I am particularly excited about the upcoming advancements in battery technology, charging infrastructure, and e-mobility solutions, and I look forward to seeing how we can tap them.
Q. How does AMU Leasing plan to maintain its leadership in the EV financing sector, and are there any plans to expand your services beyond India's borders? What's the future roadmap like?
A. We plan to maintain our leadership in the EV financing ecosystem by placing our customer’s needs above all. Our long-term vision includes not only vehicles but also charging players, battery manufacturers, battery leasing, battery swapping, and battery top-up loans.
Meanwhile, we intend to offer personalized financing solutions to our customers and educate the general public about the prospects of EVs. Our emphasis would be on prioritizing customer service and improving it so that clients can have timely access to all the information they need. At some point, we would like to expand our services beyond our borders and continue to make strides toward advancing clean mobility. However, currently, we want to focus more on developing creative ways to make EVs more affordable and expand our partner network.
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