Photo Courtesy: Suraj Prasai

On Friday, August 12, Upendra Poudel, CEO of NMB Bank and Bishnu Prasad Sharma, Chairman of Himalaya College signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the regard that NMB Bank will be providing education loans to engineering students against their academic certificates as collateral.

Poudel commented that the bank has organized smooth education loan mechanism in reasonable interest rates for the students against the collateral of fixed assets. The bank announced that the program was particularly introduced for the students from rural, backward regions and women. Due to this way, the students having an economic problem can take loan facility to study engineering.

This scheme of providing students loan was not included in the monetary plan of Nepal Rastra Bank, but the central bank announced that the bank was free to launch such plans.

According to Poudel, students can receive 40 – 80% of their college costs under the scheme. The money will be released in installments based totally on the scholar’s academic achievements and excellence.

NMB bank claimed that the loans will mature in four years and the interest will be charged at the rate of 5-8% per year. The student can extend the payback period by making a separate settlement with the bank.

The loan facility is not available to all students. The bank will issue loans to a limited number of students of institutions of which they had signed the contract.

According to the bank’s statement, such loan scheme has been introduced to provide access to technical education for disadvantaged students and will aid to produce skilled and technical manpower for the nation.