The Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram has been set up to administer and monitor scholarships as well as educational loan schemes, with a view to enable all poor and middle-class students to pursue higher education of their choice without any constraint of funds.
Government initiatives for education loans
VidyaLakshmi Portal
The Vidya Lakshmi Portal is an education loan portal developed under the guidance of the department of financial services (ministry of finance), department of higher education (ministry of education) & the Indian Banks Association (IBA). Under this, any student can have access to education loans. The portal is linked with scheduled banks and is a gateway through which students can proceed further. The portal has the facility of tracking the education loan right from inception of the loan application to sanction of the loan or otherwise. It provides information on the following
Educational loan schemes of various banks
Common educational loan application form for students
Application for education loan to multiple banks
Facility for banks to download students loan applications
Facility for banks to upload loan processing status
Facility for students to email grievances / queries relating to educational loans to banks
Linkage to national scholarship portal for information and application for government scholarships
A total of 39 banks have registered 70 educational loan schemes on the Vidya Lakshmi Portal and integrated their system with the portal for providing loan processing status to students.
Portal details
https://www.vidyalakshmi.co.in/Students/
Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme (CSIS)
Under this scheme, an interest subsidy is given for the course period and one additional year on the education loan taken from the scheduled banks under the model education loan scheme of Indian banks association to students belonging to economically weaker sections whose annual parental income is up to Rs4.5 lakh from all sources.
The subsidy is allowed for pursuing higher education in professional / technical courses only from NAAC accredited institutions or professional / technical programmes accredited by NBA or institutions of national importance or centrally funded technical institutions (CFTIs).
Canara Bank has been appointed as the nodal bank for the implementation of the scheme. The bank which is sanctioning the education loan needs to upload the claim of interest subsidy in the portal maintained by Canara Bank for this purpose. The interest subsidy is credited directly to the loan account of the student by DBT mode using the PFMS gateway.
For more information
https://canarabank.com/
For issues related to CSIS
hogps@canarabank.com
Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for education loans
Under the scheme, the central government gives a guarantee for the education loans availed by students without any collateral security and third-party guarantee for a maximum loan limit of Rs7.5 lakh. This scheme is meant for student borrowers who are unable to pledge any collateral for their loan and are also unable to provide any thirdparty guarantee.
For more information related to CGFSEL
https://www.ncgtc.in/en/ products-n-services/cgfsel
