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 Ashok
Leyland, leading commercial vehicle manufacturer and the
flagship of the Hinduja Group in India, and Shriram Transport
Finance Company, the largest asset financing NBFC in the
country, have announced their strategic partnership in Ashley
Transport Services Limited.
Hitherto wholly-owned by Ashok Leyland and its group companies,
Ashley Transport Services has been successfully operating the
unique Transport Exchange, a brand-neutral freight
intermediation service. Transport Exchange is a part of Ashok
Leyland's initiatives to bring in a variety of essential and
value-added services to the trucking community. It facilitates
truck placement for load providers, arranges load for truck
operators and ensures timely settlement.
R Seshasayee, managing director, Ashok
Leyland, and Chairman of Ashley Transport Services, said, "With
over 30 lakh commercial vehicles engaged in goods
transportation, the sheer size of the industry offers
significant opportunities for organised players and plenty of
avenues to improve the viability of truck owners. This strategic
tie-up is another step in actualising Ashok Leyland's vision of
providing a comprehensive suite of products and services in the
transport value chain. Our future plans for Ashley Transport
Services include an expansion of its operations and ttie
introduction of new financial services that transporters value.
I am happy that in Shriram Transport Finance Company we have the
ideal partner with the credentials, expertise and experience to
offer a variety of financing products to the truck operators and
the requisite systems and processes to power the growth of
Ashley Transport Services."
R Thyagarajan, chairman, Shriram Group of
Companies, said, "Joining hands with Ashok Leyland in this
important venture reflects the customer-centric approach of
Ashok Leyland and the Shriram Group to together meet the
business requirements of the transport community in every
conceivable manner.
The venture will operate in all segments
which will help the truck operators as a friend in need and take
care of their funding requirements."
R Sridhar, managing director of STFC, and
Director, Ashley Transport Services, said his company had a wide
presence in both new and used vehicle financing and many of its
customers would also stand to benefit from the bundle of
services from Ashley Transport Services. "We hope to leverage
our deep understanding of the cash flow of truck operators to
offer many structured working capital and loan products. We see
many synergies between the objectives of Ashok Leyland and
Shriram Transport Finance Company in improving the viability of
those in the goods transport value chain and extend our
commitment through infusion of equity into this venture."
The equity capital of Ashley Transport
Services is held by Ashok Leyland and group at 60 per cent and
Shriram Transport Finance Company, at 40 per cent.
J K Rajagopal, chief executive, Transport
Exchange, said, "Freight intermediation services in India have
been dominated by small, localised and unorganised players.
Truck owners have been saddled with issues of poor return load
availability, absence of transparency and revenue leakages
affecting their viability. Transport Exchange from Ashley
Transport Services has been able to address these issues with an
existing network of 29 locations."
Seshasayee indicated a planned scale-up of
Transport Exchange and related services from Ashley Transport
Services with the network growing to over 100 locations in the
next two years and an enlarged range of offerings that would
include the most critical solutions and micro financing products
like challan funding to truck operators. All these offerings
would ultimately help in improving transporter viability, he
added.
R Rangaraj
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