Central Bank of India and Bajaj Finance Limited announce tie up arrangement for retail & small & medium enterprises (SME) lending

Company Brief

Chennai, October 20, 2010

Central Bank of India, a leading public sector bank and Bajaj Finance Limited, a leading non bank finance company and on Wednesday announced that they were forging a unique alliance to co-finance Retail and SME loans.

As part of the tie-up arrangement, Bajaj Finance Limited & Central Bank Of India will co-finance its retail and SME loans. These assets would be partially assigned to Central Bank of India on a periodic basis. The administration and servicing of these loans will be managed by Bajaj Finance Limited. The tie-up is a first of its kind in the industry and draws upon the strengths of both partners for mutual benefit.

The unique partnership was announced at a joint press conference here today by Mr. S. Sridhar - Chairman & Managing Director of Central Bank of India and Mr. Rahul Bajaj, Chairman of Bajaj Finance Limited and Mr. Rajiv Kishore Dubey, Executive Director, Central Bank Of India, Mr. Sanjiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv and Mr. Rajeev Jain, CEO, Bajaj Finance along with senior officials from Central Bank were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rahul Bajaj said: "We are happy to be associated with Central Bank of India. They have been the group's bankers for over 50 years. This partnership further deepens our long standing relationship. This alliance demonstrates a growing synergy between banks and NBFCs to partner together to leverage each other's strengths and efficiencies."

Mr. Sridhar said: "Our alliance with a trusted partner like Bajaj helps us to deepen this relationship further. Growth in the retail and SME segments has immense potential and our economy will only benefit from such models. We are happy to be part of such a unique initiative" Mr Sridhar added.

Mr. Sanjiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Finserv said "Our estimates for the co-financing relationship would be to assign 1000 crores of co-financing loans over the next 18 months. Bajaj Finance's alliance with Central Bank of India is strategic as it creates another business model to grow our lending business further.

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