Stepping up efforts to penetrate deeper into the semi urban and rural India, country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India inked a pact with Shriram City Union Finance on Monday with an initial allocation of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).

The tie-up would focus on financing of entry level cars from Maruti portfolio, which include the M800, Omni and Alto models, the company said.

"Maruti Suzuki is keen to expand its presence in rural and semi urban markets. We have the right products and an excellent network across the country to support it. However, there is still lot to do in the direction of finance availability especially beyond metro towns," said MSI Chief General Manager (Sales) R S Kalsi.

He said the tie-up

with Shriram Group was a step towards providing a transparent, hassle free finance options to the company's countryside customers.

"At the onset of this association we have allocated Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) for four-wheeler financing. We look forward to our association with Maruti Suzuki to be of advantage to customers as well as both companies," Shriram City Executive Director Subhasri Sriram said.

Initially, this arrangement would be available in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and subsequently extended countrywide, the statement added.

The agreement is a joint initiative of the two companies to provide competitive car finance to people in Tier-II and Tier-III cities across the country, it said.