Macquarie plans NBFC for EV biz, sets aside $400 mn

Australian financial services firm Macquarie is looking to enter the credit space in India by launching a non-banking financial company (NBFC) as part of an electric vehicle (EV) platform it is planning to set up in the country.

- Sneha Shah

The NBFC will help commercial fleet operators avail credit and address a major gap in India’s EV ambitions, two people aware of the matter said.

Macquarie will soon apply for a licence with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the two people said. "Informal discussions with the regulator have taken place and the firm is likely to file officially in the last quarter of the current financial year," one of the two people said.

For now, the firm has put aside a $400 million investment in its end-to-end EV platform, which will offer everything from fleet leasing to electrification (battery services) and heavy transportation, the second person cited above said. Over the next seven to eight years, the firm is eyeing a $1.2-2 billion book for the NBFC.

Queries emailed to a Macquarie spokesperson remained unanswered.