General Electric yesterday launched a new consumer finance brand in India, targeting the country's rapidly growing mortgage market - a business dominated by local commercial lenders and foreign banks. GE Money, as the consumer finance brand is now called, aims to capture up to Rs10bn ($226m) in assets over the short term by selling housing and personal loans to India's emerging middle class.

Until now, GE's retail finance interests in India have come through joint ventures selling credit cards with the State Bank of India (SBI) and vehicle maker Maruti. These partnerships will continue, although GE Countrywide, a unit that mainly sold automotive loans to sub-prime borrowers, is being rolled into GE Money. Ray Marcelo, New Delhi