cKers Finance Ties Up with OTO Capital, Promoting E2Ws in India

cKers Finance, a ‘sustainable energy finance firm” yesterday announced its debt financing tie-up with OTO Capital, a finance startup for two-wheelers, for its electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) leasing program in India.

cKers has set-up an initial line of INR 30 million for OTO. OTO will use this facility to purchase E2Ws in India, which will then be deployed to the customers of OTO on flexible leasing models. This partnership endeavors to provide consumers with affordable and flexible financing options to own E2Ws.

As India is in its growing stage of EV adoption, financing options are still evolving for electric two wheelers, at dealerships, which hinders mass adoption.

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In this partnership between cKers and OTO Capital customers would be saving up to 30 percent in their monthly installments by choosing the OTO Monthly Installment plans (OMI), while the minimum tenure for the leasing program stands at 12 months, which can be increased up to 36 months. Also, customers have the option to purchase the E2Ws by paying the balance cost at the end of the program or upgrade to a newer model.

Established in 2017, cKers Finance is a specialized Sustainable Energy finance company that operates in the rapidly growing segments around clean energy, e-Mobility, and energy efficiency. cKers provides the project finance viable at a small scale for decentralized renewable energy and develops innovative asset-backed financing approaches. It is also supporting standards for sustainable energy bonds and building data around risk metrics for new segments. Earlier this year cKers had raised $5 million through its  sustainable energy bond from US investor New Energy Nexus. It also counts Infuse Ventures, IIM Ahmedabad’s CIIE (Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship) and ckinetics among its founding institutions.

Pawan Mehra, director and chief investment officer at cKers Finance, had said during its March 2020 fund raise that the firm has helped in setting over 45 megawatts of solar energy assets over 100 locations in the country.

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On the OTO finance facility, Deepak Gupta, Business Development Head, cKers Finance said, “Electric two-wheelers have still not penetrated the Indian two-wheeler market and constitute less than 1 percent market share of two-wheelers sold each year. The primary reason for that is EVs are still 1.5-2x costlier than other vehicles, though these costs are steadily declining. Additionally, debt providers face a challenge while financing EVs due to the lack of an established resale market in India.”

“The OTO Capital partnership helps mitigate both these factors for vehicle owners relating to lack of financing and resale of EVs. This gives us the comfort to provide a finance line exclusively for purchase and deployment of E2Ws and push towards adoption of a cleaner mode of transport,” Deepak added.

OTO offers a new model of financing for automotive purchases (cars and two-wheelers) and is targeted at retail customers. OTO finance plan features OMIs (Ownership Monthly Installments) which are 30 percent lower than EMIs and low, refundable down payment. OTO partners with Banks and NBFCs to provide the capital offers customers with an alternative option for financing their vehicles. OTO provides full auto-lifecycle management, from credit underwriting to insurance, maintenance, and eventual resale of the vehicle.

Talking about the transition of the Indian two wheeler market, Sumit Chhazed, Co-founder, OTO Capital said, “We are excited to partner with cKers’ to support the adoption of electric two-wheelers in India. Since the cost of EVs is steadily reducing in India we aim to provide our customers with the best pricing with the flexibility to ease their buying experience. With that in mind, we have an innovative financing plan where customers spend less on monthly EMIs while having the flexibility in choosing the tenure of the lease plan.

He further added, “The founding team at OTO has prior experience in the two-wheeler resale market, which helps us provide the best value to our customers should they choose to purchase the vehicle at the end of the lease tenure.”

OTO Capital has seen a 120 percent increase in the demand for vehicle leasing in the last few months. There is a visible shift in vehicle-purchasing behavior, as consumers are seeking more ‘conservative’ alternatives such as vehicle financing and leasing as alternatives to auto loans.