mumbai an acute shortage of trained drivers has driven shriram transport finance to set up driving schools across the country the company which is the largest financier of secondhand commercial vehicles is finding nonavailability of drivers a constraint to the expansion plans of its borrowerswe will set up the first such school in kolhapur next month where an ngo comprising iit alumnus will support us in creating employment opportunities for those who have not completed their education said r sridhar md shriram transport finance he added that the company plans to establish driving schools in all states in 23 yearsaccording to sridhar the aim was to create a pool of commercial vehicle drivers these drivers would be hired by shrirams borrowers in a way shriram was also driving the demand for drivers as its business model involves extending loans to firsttime borrowers most of the commercial vehicles financed by shriram are ownerdriven trucksemployees who have turned entrepreneurs the company has financed 12 lakh vehicles through eight lakh loans most of the borrowers are those who are accessing organized loans for the first timethe training would be initially for light motor vehicles our objective is to ensure that drivers learn to practice safe driving and we will have exservicemen as instructors he said welltrained drivers work in shrirams advantage as well considering that a large number of vehicles financed by the company has been purchased by drivers who have set out to become entrepreneurs there company has financed 8 lakh borrowers to purchase 12 lakh commercial vehiclesfrom the slowdown that followed the global financial crisis in 2008 the commercial vehicle market has seen a sharp upswing the thumb rule is that increase in tonnage should grow at 15 times the economy however the growth had been much higher as truckowners added capacity in the last two years in anticipation of demand i believe demand has reached a peak now from october 2009 when the revival happened we have had 1617 months of an upswing in the business cycle now we are facing pressures on account of inflation and hardening of interest rates he said the pressures have not yet put prices on freight prices in general however there is some weakening of transporation demand in the infrastructure sector and in iron orealthough the cost of funding has gone up sridhar said that shrirams margins would remain intact at little below 7 however growth was expected to stabilize at around 20 in addition to setting up driving schools shriram transport has gone in for backward integration of its business by promoting an automall which would serve as an exchange for used vehicles the group has also promoted a construction equipment finance company