Woori Financial Group Chairman and CEO Yim Jong-Yong (left), Tata Motors President and head of commercial vehicle business unit Girish Wagh at MOU signing ceremony on May 16 (Courtesy of Woori)
Woori Financial Group Inc., the fourth-largest financial holding group in South Korea, and India’s top commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors Ltd. entered into a non-binding agreement on Thursday to strengthen their business ties for automotive financing services in India and Southeast Asia.
Woori aims to launch its car financing services for Tata’s partner companies and increase its presence in the auto finance markets in India, Vietnam and Indonesia, the financial group said on May 16.
The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) will expand opportunities of global expansion of the two companies, Woori’s Chairman and CEO Yim Jong-Yong said.
The MOU follows a five-year contract between Woori’s lending unit Woori Financial Capital Co. and Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co., a Korean truck manufacturing subsidiary of Tata, which was signed last December. The two firms agreed to increase auto loans and insurance for buyers of Tata Daewoo cars.
For the first four months of this year, Woori Financial Capital posted 107.4 billion won ($79.1 million) in revenue from car financing for Tata Daewoo, 3.3 times the sales during the same period a year earlier.
Tata Motors logged $50.9 billion in revenue last year, making up around a third of Tata Group’s sales.
The commercial vehicle unit is the world’s fifth-largest truck manufacturer and is accelerating the production of electric vehicles and the development of autonomous driving solutions.
By Jae-Won Park
wonderful@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.
