BNP Paribas’ automotive leasing
subsidiary Arval has
expanded into India with an ambitious plan of owning a fleet of
10,000 vehicles in the next five years. Arval, which is present in
22 countries, already owns 125 vehicles in India that are available
for leasing in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi.

Liam Donnelly, CEO of Arval in India said: “There are roughly
30,000 vehicles under operational leasing in India compared to 15
million in the UK. Hence, we are all set to tap the enormous
potential in India.”
Following the lead of its parent bank, Arval plans to utilise BNP
Paribas’ client base and broach multinationals coming into India as
well as those Indian companies investing abroad, once it has
established itself.

Arval also plans to introduce operational leasing to the market;
as it is generally common in India for a leasing company to lease a
vehicle for a specific time to a corporate against a rental or for
Indian companies to buy cars and give cash to their employees as
part of their annual salary for a car allowance.

Donnelly said: “This results in incurring additional expenditure
for the employers. However, this mode of car leasing will bring
down such expenditure to a great extent, removing this financial
burden from their balance sheets. Under operational leasing mode,
all these risks are taken care of. Furthermore, a company need not
invest a huge amount in buying cars.”