GM ties up Rs 1,000 cr loan from consortium of PSU banks

General Motors India today said it has raised a Rs 1,000 crore loan from a consortium of Indian banks to part-fund a $250 million (nearly Rs 1,160 crore) investment for launching five vehicles from the stable of its Chinese partner, SAIC, by 2012.

General Motors India today said it has raised a Rs 1,000 crore loan from a consortium of Indian banks to part-fund a USD 250 million (nearly Rs 1,160 crore) investment for launching five vehicles from the stable of its Chinese partner, SAIC, by 2012.

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"By the end of 2012 we plan to launch five vehicles from SAIC in India. Three of them will be light commercial vehicles
(LCV) and two will be passenger vehicles," General Motors India President and Managing Director Karl Slym told PTI.

General Motors India, which was converted into a 50:50 joint venture between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive
Industry Corporation (SAIC) last year, will launch an LCV first by the end of the next year and the other models will
follow suit.

"Each model is expected to need an investment of USD 50 million. To meet this, we have tied up Rs 1,000 crore from a
group of Indian banks," Slym said.

While IDBI is the lead bank, others are SBI, PNB, Canara Bank and Bank of India, all of which are state-run lenders.

Of the total, Rs 800 crore will be towards term loan for a period of seven years and Rs 200 crore will be to meet
working capital requirements, he added.

Elaborating on the launch programme of the models from SAIC, Slym said: "The launch of all the five models should be
completed by the end of 2012."

The vehicles would be launched under the GM Chevrolet badge, he added.