CarTrade's 'one-click purchase' vision

CarTrade Tech is working on a comprehensive digitised marketplace for vehicles, underpinned by top-class technology and facilitated by dedicated teams. Brian de Souza speaks with Banwari Lal Sharma, CEO, consumer business on the company's plans and vision.

- Banwari Lal Sharma

Buying a car under a decade ago on an online platform was, perhaps, not something buyers were familiar or comfortable with. The car-buying experience was rooted in brick-and-mortar. Then the pandemic changed it all. As the CEO of CarTrade Tech's consumer business, Banwari Lal Sharma puts it: We realised that as a digital company with 600 people are working at home, dealerships shut and so on, dozens of calls came from OEMs and dealers who shared their concerns with us.

'Our digitisation vision is to make the process of buying a vehicle quick, hassle-free and transparent. This is what every customer deserves and we are committed to providing it in the best possible way.'

Lal is, however, candid to say that at the start of the pandemic which hit India's shores two years ago this month, traffic on the portal initially fell. Then in May and June 2020,"we saw things picking up". At this juncture, there was demand for personal mobility from a safety perspective, and as Sharma puts it, "We saw more inquiries for used rather than new cars".

Acquired by CarTrade Tech, a multi-channel automotive platform that went public last year, the CarWale platform has a presence across vehicle types and services; on the platform are other portals such as CarTrade, BikeWale, CarTrade Exchange, Adroit Auto, and AutoBiz. The platform also facilitates the buying of used CVs and equipment thanks to the acquisition last year of a 51 percent stake in Shriram AutoMall, an auction platform.