More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024

NEW DELHI – The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new central sector scheme called PM Vidyalaxmi to provide subsidised higher education loans without collateral or a guarantor to students from middle-class families. The scheme, which will cost the government INR 36 billion until 2030-31 (Apr-Mar), is expected to benefit 700,000 students.

"The scheme will be applicable to top-quality, higher educational institutions of the nation, ranked by the National Institutional Ranking Framework... to begin with, 860 qualifying quality higher education institutions, covering more than 2.2 million students, will be able to potentially avail benefits of PM Vidyalaxmi," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said after the Cabinet meeting.

Students will be able to apply for education loans and interest subvention on the unified portal of the Department of Higher Education. Vaishnaw said that public and private sector banks will provide loans, which will cover the entire tuition fee and other course-related expenses. "For loan amounts up to INR 750,000, the student will also be eligible for a credit guarantee of 75% of outstanding default. This will give support to banks in making education loans available to students under the scheme," the government said in a statement.

As per the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India, education loans from banks stood at INR 1.29 trillion as on Sept. 20, up 17.6% on year. The scheme will also provide 3% interest subvention during the moratorium period on loans of up to INR 1 million for students from families with an annual income of up to INR 800,000.

However, these students must not be eligible for benefits under any other government scholarship or interest subvention scheme. This interest subvention, the government said, will be given to 100,000 students every year, with preference to be given to students who are from government institutions and have opted for technical or professional courses. "This is in addition to the full interest subvention already offered to students with up to INR 450,000 annual family income," the government said. End

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Saji George Titus

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.