Finance And Services In The Pre-owned Segment

Srinivas Kantheti, Co-founder at Bike Bazaar ( Ex-President, Bajaj Auto, Two-wheelers, Domestic Sales ) in an upfront conversation with Sumesh Soman, shares the outlook on the pre-owned two-wheelers segment.

- Sumesh Soman

Q. What drew you to co-found Bike Bazaar? How has your knowledge and experience at Bajaj Auto come into play?

A. I have been working for Bajaj Auto for almost 15 years across various roles in the organisation. I would like to cite two critical roles, heading the ‘Auto Finance’ division under the umbrella of Bajaj Finserv, the capital finance arm of the company for two-wheelers and three-wheelers manufactured by Bajaj Auto. Over the three and a half years of my tenure, we focussed on penetrating deeper into the rural markets with finance as a differentiator. And Bajaj Finance did extremely well on key metrics. On taking over as President - Bajaj Auto for the two-wheeler segment, I looked at the front end involving sales, service, spares, dealership, dealer management, marketing and brand building to name a few. It’s strange how there are multiple car manufacturers in India, but only so many two-wheelers manufacturers in comparison.

This is a worldwide phenomenon and it surprises me since twowheelers are the apt mobility solution for this market. 80 per cent of the auto industry constitutes two-wheelers making India, the largest two-wheeler market. India has now become without doubt the R&D capital of the world. So, you can be anybody, for instance, a Triumph, a Harley Davidson, a KTM, and if you want to compete in the global market, you have to have a strong R&D partner in India. Lesser than 500 cc bikes are a majority of the market. Globally, 95 per cent of the market is sub-500 cc. India makes real competitive cost structures possible.