Ascendas India Trust secures maiden S$100 million

 Ascendas India Trust secures maiden S$100 million sustainabilitylinked loan from UOB

Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte. Ltd., the Trustee-Manager of Ascendas India Trust (“a-iTrust” or the “Trust”), is pleased to announce that it has successfully obtained a five-year S$100 million unsecured sustainability-linked loan facility from UOB. 

The facility is a-iTrust’s first sustainability-linked loan. The Trust intends to use the proceeds from the loan for general corporate and working capital requirements, including refinancing existing borrowings, the redevelopment of properties, acquisitions, capital expenditure or asset enhancement works of the Trust’s properties.  

 

The facility features a 2-tier incentive mechanism where a-iTrust is entitled to an interest rate reduction when predetermined sustainability performance targets are met. 

Mr. Sanjeev Dasgupta, Chief Executive Officer said, “a-iTrust considers sustainability as a key driver of its value creation strategy. This is implemented through various initiatives towards the environmental and social well-being of the communities where it operates.  

Securing the Trust’s maiden sustainability-linked loan facility is testament to the Trust’s effort in minimising its environmental footprint. The Trust is committed to continuously increase the proportion of its properties which are certified “Gold” or “Platinum”, amidst the Trust’s plans to grow its portfolio. In doing so, it is also able to achieve a lower cost of borrowing for the Trust. This is also in line with CapitaLand Group’s overall green building rating targets of achieving green certifications for all new and existing buildings in its portfolio by 2030.” 

Mr Leong Yung Chee, Head of Group Corporate Banking, UOB said, “At UOB, we are focused on collaborating with our clients on their sustainability goals. In 2020, we provided the largest sustainability-linked bilateral loan in Singapore’s real estate sector to CapitaLand Group. Today, we continue to build on that relationship through our support of a-iTrust, a leading listed property trust managed by the Group. The sustainability-linked loan to a-iTrust is tied to the Environmental, Social and Governance performance of a portfolio of buildings in India, making it the first of its kind in Singapore. This marks another milestone in the way we work with our clients to help advance their sustainability goals and we look forward to our continued collaboration.”

ICICI Bank offers instant approval of

ICICI Bank offers instant approval of education loan of upto Rs. 1 crore

·         First bank in the country to offer this facility

·         Available for accredited colleges and universities across the world

·         Fully digital process

ICICI Bank today announced the launch of a facility that empowers customers to get instant sanction letter for education loans upto Rs. 1 crore to finance higher studies for themselves or their children, siblings and grand-children in accredited colleges and universities across the world. Called ‘Insta Education Loan’, this first-of-its-kind facility enables lakhs of pre-approved customers to take education loans in a fully digital process against their fixed deposits with the Bank. They can furnish the sanction letter to the educational institute to confirm their admission.

The ‘Insta Education Loan’ facility significantly improves customer convenience as they can now generate the sanction letter themselves in just a few clicks using the Bank’s internet banking platform. Typically, it takes a few working days for a customer to get the sanction letter of an education loan. Also, it does away with the need of having to visit a bank branch and submitting a whole lot of documents.

          

Speaking about the new facility, Mr. Sudipta Roy, Head - Unsecured Assets, ICICI Bank, said, “As part of our constant endeavour to fulfil the dreams of lakhs of aspiring students, we are pleased to introduce instant approval of sanction letter for education loans against fixed deposits held with the Bank. Students can now complete the application process of colleges/universities without worrying for their financial requirements. They along with their parents can avail this facility with digital convenience and without any hassle of paper work. This facility will brings down the turnaround time for getting the sanction letter from days to a few minutes. We believe that this facility surely brings in exceptional convenience to customers as they can avail finance for higher studies without breaking their fixed deposit/ savings.”

Below are some of the salient features of ‘Insta Education Loan’:

·         Instant sanction: Customers get the sanction letter instantly through email, without visiting a branch

·         Flexibility: Customers can apply for loans upto 90% of their fixed deposits with the Bank for their children, siblings, grand-children or themselves.

·         Wide range of loan amount: For students seeking admission in international institutes, the loan amount ranges between Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 1 crore. The amount varies between Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 50 lakh for student seeking admission in domestic institutes.

·         Easy to apply: Customers can choose the loan amount and tenure of repayment up to 10 years through internet banking platform of the Bank with just a few clicks.   

·         Tax benefits: Full interest payment on the amount of ‘Insta Education Loan’ up to 8 years is allowed as deduction from annual taxable income, as per the Section 80E of Income Tax Act, 1961.

Customers can avail the sanction in a few simple steps below:

1.       Log in: Customers can log in to the Bank’s internet banking platform and check the pre-approved offer

2.       Enter loan details: They need to enter details like loan amount, repayment tenure, name of college / university and cost of study. The calculator automatically displays the details of the Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI).

3.       Enter student details: They are required to enter details of the student like name, date of birth and relation with student. Further, they need to check final offer, agree to terms & conditions and authenticate via a One Time Password (OTP) received on their registered mobile number. Thereafter, on payment of processing fee, a sanction letter is generated instantly.

4.       Receive sanction letter: The provisional sanction letter is sent to the registered email ID along with details of the designated relationship manager.

For the final disbursement of the loan, customers are required to get in touch with the relationship manager mentioned in the email of sanction letter. Post collecting required documents like admission letter, financial documents and signatures, the Bank will disburse the loan amount to the educational institution. Customers can also visit the nearest ICICI Bank branch for submission of the documents.