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Our Bureau

Chennai , Sept. 1

GE Consumer Finance, the global consumer-lending unit of General Electric and its third biggest division, today launched in India GE Money, the new global umbrella brand of all GE businesses providing financial services.

With this launch, all existing GE Countrywide products will henceforth go to market as GE Money, according to Mr Vishal Pandit, President and CEO, GE Money India. The joint ventures with SBI Card and Maruti will continue to use their existing branding, he told newspersons.

GE Money is targeting consumer finance assets to grow three times in the next three years to around Rs 15,000 crore. It now operates a consolidated balance sheet in India incorporating all its businesses, he said.

In the next three years, GE Money's focus would be on cards (to contribute 30 per cent of the assets), mortgages (30-35 per cent), personal loans (25 per cent) and the balance from financial services. The company plans to go slow on auto loans, as the returns were poor. Auto loans currently contribute around 30 per cent of the company's total assets, he said.

GE Money would spend Rs 45 crore to expand its distribution network to 200 centres in 110 cities from the present 118 centres in 60 cities. In South India, the company plans to expand the network to 54 centres from the present 28 by the year-end, he said.

According to Mr Pandit, South India represents a significant and strategic area of growth potential for GE Money.

Chennai houses the company's main centralised operations, and the customer base in the South is growing by more than 60 per over last year, he said.

Mr Pandit said that the company is processing 2.40 lakh applications a month.

"We are bullish on the opportunities for growth in consumer finance in India with one brand, one experience," he said.

Plans foray into banking

GE Money plans to foray into banking in India in the next 18 months.

"We have applied with the Reserve Bank of India and are awaiting clearances," Mr Vishal Pandit, President and CEO, GE Money India, said. "We would focus only on retail banking," he said.

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