CHENNAI, India and BERLIN — Daimler AG recently learned it received approval from the Reserve Bank of India to setup a finance company in the country.

Executives explained the newly founded company — Daimler Financial Services India Private Limited — will be a 100 percent subsidiary of Daimler AG. They expect the new subsidiary to be operational in the third quarter.

The company highlighted that the product range of Daimler Financial Services in India will include financing, leasing, insurance and dealer financing for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars at market launch.

Daimler Financial Services AG, the financial services arm of Daimler AG based in Berlin, believes it has shown strong growth in the three other BRIC markets. Through the end of last year, contract volume at Daimler Financial Services in Russia increased by 25 percent, while the Brazil increase was at 35 percent. China also showed a spike of 100 percent.

"With business activities in over 40 countries, Daimler Financial Services is one of the leading automotive financial services companies in the world. Every second passenger car and every fourth commercial vehicle from Daimler is financed or leased by us. India is one of the fastest growing automotive markets and Daimler Group has high expectations from this market," explained Richard Howard, the Daimler Financial Services board member responsible for the Africa and Asia/Pacific regions.

"Daimler Financial Services India will support the sales of Mercedes-Benz cars and Daimler trucks as we see a large demand for financing solutions in the market. We will initially invest upwards of $50 million as part of market entry," Howard went on to say.

Sidhartha Nair, managing director of Daimler Financial Services India Private Limited, added, "By providing innovative and customized finance and insurance solutions to dealers and customers, we intend to enrich the ownership experience of Mercedes-Benz and BharatBenz branded automotive products under the Mercedes-Benz Financial and BharatBenz Financial labels."