KARACHI, July 21: PICIC would launch a customer-driven auto leasing scheme, which would cover agriculture implements including tractors, threshers, bulldozers, construction vehicles and others.

Managing Director, PICIC, Muhammad Ali Khoja, said in a press statement that the main features of the scheme would be its minimum markup rate of around 7.99 per cent, negotiable for bulk investors or clients with good reputation; down-payment would be 10 per cent with no hidden costs and no penalty on pre-payment settlement.

The lease period would be flexible from 3 to 5 years with a comprehensive insurance policy. Mr Khoja said that the scheme would apply to both corporate as well as individual clients and for all kinds of vehicles from two wheelers to 10-wheelers.

He said that PICIC had disbursed Rs2.25 billion in auto leasing and he claimed PICIC to be one of the major lessors in the urban transport schemes and providing passenger buses on lease to various transporters in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Sargodha and Sadiqabad.

Rate of defaults, he said, was zero on long-term loans of around Rs7 billion disbursed during last four years. About the old stuck-up loans, he said that Rs1.7 billion out of total outstanding loans of Rs3.2 billion had been settled. PACRA was stated to have upgraded long-term rating of PICIC to 'AA' (Double A) while short-term rating was maintained at 'A1+' (A one Plus).