Jains in Gujarat buy 186 luxury cars for ₹149 crore in one mega deal
The community worked with dealers from 15 major brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Samsung, and others to get better rates for its members.
The Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO), an initiative started by the Jain community, recently bought 186 high-end cars across India priced between ₹60 lakh and ₹1.34 crore. What stood out was how they managed to get a discount of ₹21.22 crore on the total deal amount, which came up to ₹149.54 crore later, showing the strength of community buying.
Though the purchase was made across the country, a large number of buyers were Gujaratis, especially from Ahmedabad. JITO has about 65,000 members in India and worked with dealers from 15 major brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Samsung, and others to get better rates for its members, The Times of India reported.
After the success of this effort, JITO has created a separate wing for community buying. The organisation is planning to extend such group deals to other categories, such as electronics, medicines, and jewellery.
Himanshu Shah, the vice-chairman of JITO Apex, told the newspaper, “Community buying gives us power to bargain harder. Brands benefit from assured volumes and lower marketing costs, while members get savings. In this drive alone, members bought luxury cars worth ₹149.54 crore, saving ₹21.22 crore collectively.”
The rise of community buying
According to the report, Jains are not the only ones driving the trend of community buying. The Bharwad community has also adopted the concept but linked it to empowerment.
To promote self-employment among young members, the Bharwad Yuva Sangathan Gujarat pooled bookings for 121 JCB machines. They secured an average discount of ₹3.3 lakh on each machine, saving a total of around ₹4 crore, TOI reported.
"Our campaign helps the youth start their own ventures. Those without strong credit scores got JCBs at zero down payment, based only on PAN and Aadhaar verification, with the community standing guarantee for repayment," the Sangathan's president Dilip Bharwad said.
