HDFC Bank invests in auto portal CarDekho

Jaipur-based Girnar Software Pvt Ltd, the company behind auto portal CarDekho.com, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from private sector lender HDFC Bank, the company said on Wednesday.

The investment comes close on the heels of the company raising a Series B funding round worth $50 million from Hillhouse Capital, Tybourne Capital and existing investor Sequoia. Shortly thereafter it had also received an undisclosed amount of funding from former chief of Tata Group and currently chairman emeritus of group's holding company Tata Sons, Ratan Tata.

In November 2013, Girnar raised $15 million in its Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital.

CarDekho.com provides information about new and old cars, reviews, a platform to buy and sell used cars and related services to help consumers reach out to the automobile dealers. For every buyer that goes to a dealer via CarDekho, the company earns a fee. Similarly for the used car model, the firm charges dealers for displaying the inventory.

Individual consumers can also list their used cars on the portal for free or opt for a premium listing. Apart from these, the site uses advertisements as a means to generate revenues. This way the site follows a multiple-revenue model. The firm has also partnered with car manufacturers and it passes on leads to manufacturers and charges them only when the automobile is purchased.

It also connects users looking to avail auto loan to banks. HDFC Bank, the second-largest private lender and the top private bank by market cap, could be looking to capitalise on the portal as a preferential lead generator for its own auto loans business.

"This partnership with HDFC Bank will help provide the Indian consumer a seamless experience in buying cars and obtaining financing. We want every car buyer in this country to have a pre-approved loan before they even finalise the vehicle that he/she is seeking," said Amit Jain, CEO, Girnar Software.

The total size of the Indian car loan market is estimated at Rs 80,000 crore with HDFC Bank claiming to have 35 per cent market share.

On the other hand, according to CarDekho, 75 per cent of the car buyers on its platform opt for a financing option.

"We expect digital to have a 25 per cent share of auto loan financing within the next four years and are looking to facilitate a billion dollar of auto loans through CarDekho. Used car finance is a classic blue ocean market and CarDekho and HDFC market can together build that market," said Umang Kumar, president, CarDekho and CEO, Gaadi.com.

Girnar Software had acquired competing site Gaadi.com from Naspers last year.

"In CarDekho and Gaadi, we see an integrated business across new cars and used cars. It is led by a passionate team, determined to provide one-stop car purchase solutions to Indian car buyers," said Rakesh Singh, group head, investment banking, capital and commodity markets, HDFC Bank.

CarDekho was founded by siblings Amit and Anurag Jain around seven years ago. The company claims to be drawing 17 million visits and 10 million unique visitors per month. It currently has over 5,000 dealers as partners.

The firm also runs BikeDekho.com and price comparison and product discovery engine PriceDekho.com.

Other players operating in the online auto classifieds space include Times Internet's Zigwheels, Sierra Ventures-backed Carwale, Autoindia.com, Carazoo.com and MotorExchange.