Car loan only a swipe away as ICICI Bank introduces LOTS

Mumbai, Jan 9 (UNI) ICICI Bank today announced a new initiative in its car loans segment called LOTS (Loan on the Spot) for its existing savings account customers.

Those aspiring to purchase a car under the new initiative of the bank, need to have a savings bank account with a facility of debit card and will get the pre-approved offer from the bank for the same.

Briefing mediapersons, ICICI Bank General Manager and head, retail assets, Rajiv Sabharwal said ''With the boom in the country's economy, there is a sudden spurt in the demand for new cars in the country and hence we've launched this offer to facilitate our customers that are willing to have a car.'' Indian auto industry was growing at the rate of 12-15 per cent for past five years and the figure was likely to cross 20 per cent this year with excise duty reduction and arrival of new models in the country soon after their global launches, he said.

Though the bank, which entered the car loan business in 1998 and continues to provide the same through phone calls, has started the initiative in a few selected cities, namely Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur at the moment and soon would extended it to more than 20 cities in India.

ICICI Bank's Head of Car&Commercial Vehicle Loans N R Narayana said ''We have put separate swipe machines at the dealers' shops for the purpose for the time being to avoid confusions.'' However, the existing swipe machines are equipped with this facility, he added.

General Manager, Technology, of the bank Mukesh Kumar Jain said ''The EDC (electronic data capture) terminals installed at the dealers' outlet ejects a printed slip which gives offer details along with then 16-digit unique number generated for the customer.

The dealer can use this pre-approved offer slip to obtain a sanction from the bank within an hour,'' he said.

UNI