Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) announced a strategic national tieup with Union Bank of India (UBI) on Wednesday to offer loans for its two-wheeler customers. This tieup will enable customers to avail 100 per cent finance on the road cost of vehicles at nine per cent reducing interest rate and with a repayment tenure between one and five years.

The tieup aims to make two-wheeler buying much easier for the urban and rural customer. "BAL has embarked on a major retail thrust to offer easy and attractive consumer finance schemes to the consumers across the 1,500 authorised dealerships and outlets across the county.

Union Bank of India also has identified consumers and specifically two-wheeler finance as a major focus activity to be undertaken from all its branches and retail marts across the country," said Mr S. Sridhar, vice-president marketing, BAL. With this tieup, UBI will get immediate access to the nation wide Bajaj sales network, while BAL will look forward to boosting its finance sales volumes with affordable and competitive rates of interest.

Bajaj Auto Ltd will leverage the retail financing strength and reach of UBI for close to 100 per cent finance coverage across the country aimed specifically for rural markets.

The State Bank of India (SBI) has entered into a strategic agreement with Kuoni Travels, an authorised agent of Western Union, a worldwide money transfer agency, to provide inbound money transfer services at 200 branches located in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Additionally, Kuoni Travels will provide back-end support with a support staff of 60 dedicated solely to SBI.

"In the retail banking business, distribution is everything and a product like inward remittance has special significance. This service will be available to people without SBI bank accounts. We’ve been missing a link for an effective remittance system and out tie-up will offer a better product range to our customers," said SBI managing director Ashok Kini.

The SBI hopes to garner a major share in the remittance market which saw $21.7 billion in inward remittances in 2004 and constitutes about three per cent of India’s GDP. Although not company policy, Western Union agents sometimes offer services that include cash delivery to the doorsteps of its intended recipients and according to Mr Kini, the SBI could offer similar services and take the opportunity to sell other products and services to the recipients.

"We want to be known as a bank with convenience banking operating seven days a week and Western Union has the ability to pick-up customers from all parts of India," added Mr Kini.