At a time when the Donald Trump administration plans to tighten visa rules for entering US, a US-based lender is trying to woo students, especially Indians, with easy loans at fixed interest rate, visa guidance and job assistance.

Washington-based MPOWER Financing, which has been providing student loans in the Indian market for the last five years, is still betting big in the Asia’s third largest economy that accounts for 20 per cent of the total student loan disbursals for MPOWER, globally.

Emmanuel Smadja, CEO and co-founder of MPOWER Financing, told BusinessLine: “One in five loan comes from India and that is growing as more and more students from the science, technology and medical streams want to pursue higher studies in the US.”

Focus on women

Smadja further added that MPOWER is more than just a financier. “We help students with their visa process and also internships. Later, we help them find jobs in the US and Canada.”

He said, “US, not wanting outside students is just a perception. In fact, in companies like Apple and Google, 90 per cent of the H1B visas gets approved instantly.”

At a fixed rate of 6.49 per cent, MPOWER offers collateral free loans of up to ₹35 lakhs for a 10-year period, post which there is a late repayment fee. Smajda said the loan disbursals in the Indian market is growing every year and MPOWER, that focusses mostly on women, hopes to disburse an additional $3k-$5k of loans this year.

While, MPOWER remains bullish in the Indian market, things are changing drastically as the number of Indian students going to the US for higher studies is on the decline.

Last year, for the first time, the number of Indian students going to the US for higher education, witnessed a dip amidst restrictive immigration policies of the US govt, according to official reports. Indian students accounted for 17.9% of the total foreign students in the US in 2017-18.

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