Expecting positive impactThe infrastructure sector is well positioned today with all the changes the government is trying to bring around. Activities observed in the areas of roads, contract mining, ports, smart cities development, metro rail and urban infrastructure development will have long lasting beneficial effects on the economy.
According to Devendra Vyas, “The overall government direction is towards development and speedier execution. The critical enablers in the upcoming government initiatives would be the speed of execution and the regulations enabling infrastructure companies, who have moved into stress owing to pending approval, with speedier approvals and structures to help them rejuvenate themselves and the sector.”
Srei portfolio The firm has been one of the market leaders in the construction and mining equipment (CME) finance space. It has also forayed into equipment finance for health care, information technology, rural and pre-owned equipment. While CME continues to be its biggest contributor, its other verticals are strategically positioned to cater new customer needs and also diversify its portfolio. The firm is hopeful of seeing enhanced growth and contribution by all its new verticals.
Srei’s holistic perspective The company has experienced multiple cycles in the sector for the past 25 years, earlier as Srei and since its JV as Srei BNP Paribas.  “Any form of slack in the economy cannot be handled just with a financier perspective but must be approached from a holistic perspective. What truly differentiates us is our ability to provide holistic ‘Asset Solution’ rather than being just the financier,” assures Mr Vyas. “We enable our clients across the life-cycle of the asset; namely, procurement, deployment, maintenance and disposal. Our key strengths essentially also revolve around a relationship-cum-partnership model with manufacturers and our customers.”
The company has tie-ups with over 50 OEMs in India or abroad and its tailor-made partnership programs provide the competitive edge. Nurturing customer awareness, in collaboration with OEMs has been its focus area and today it has a customer base of around 30,000 with over 40 per cent of them being repeat customers. Thus, its strategy spans across both backward and forward integration.
While borrowing financeAny customer, whether a first time user or a first time borrower or a customer who has taken finance before, must first understand the project of deployment and then take a call to use financial assistance.
“It has always been our endeavour to educate customers on the real viability of their decisions, irrespective of their scale and hence, partner them in their endeavour,” informs Mr Vyas.
Customers must also consult and decide whether to buy old or used equipment; which too, is a function of deployment. If this homework is done well by the customer along with valuable inputs from domain experts, then the chances of going wrong is minimal.—————————————————————-The critical enablers in the upcoming government initiatives would be the speed of execution and the regulations enabling infrastructure companies.
-Devendra Vyas, CEO, Srei Equipment Finance Pvt. Ltd.