Question : Education Loan

(a) whether the Government has launched any scheme to provide interest free loan on education taken by the students and if so, the details thereof including the norms/criteria laid down for the purpose under the scheme and the present rate of interest charged by the bank;
(b) the total number of students who have availed the benefit under the scheme including total amount of loan sanctioned and disbursed during each of the last three years and the current year, bank/State/UT-wise including Maharashtra and the percentage of students who have availed benefit for higher education;
(c) whether the cases of recovering lower rate of interest by the banks from girls students compared to boy students have come to the notice of the Government and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor including the steps taken by the Government to remove the disparity;
(d) the total amount of education loan not repaid by the students even after completing their education as on date, bank/State/UT-wise including Maharashtra; and
(e) whether the Government has taken/proposed to be taken steps to waive off the interest on education loan and if so, the details thereof?

(MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE)


(a) There is no scheme to provide interest free loan on education taken by the students. However, Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) launched a scheme titled “Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme” (CSIS) in 2009. The Scheme provides full interest subsidy during the moratorium period on education loans uptoRs 7.50 lakhs. Eligibility Criteria laid down for the scheme is as under:

• Education Loans taken under Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) Model Education Loan Scheme.
• Students having parental income uptoRs 4.5 lakhs per annum.
• Students enrolled in professional/technical courses only from National Assessment and Accreditation Council(NAAC) accredited Institutions or professional/technical programmes accredited by NBA or Institutions of National Importance or Central Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs). Those professional courses, which do not come under the ambit of NAAC or NBA, would require approval of the respective regulatory body.
Contd/-
-2-
• Admissible only for once either for Under Graduation or Post Graduation. Also admissible for integrated courses (graduation + post graduation).

Interest charged by the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) on education loans ranges from 8.60 to 11.50% p.a. depending upon the MCLR (Marginal Cost of Lending Rate) of the respective Bank and size of the loan.
(b) 25,17,038 students have benefitted under CSIS since Financial Year 2009-10.
As per the information furnished by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the bank-wise/state-wisenumber of education loan accounts and amount of loan disbursed by banks in the country including in the State of Maharashtra for the years ending on 31st March 2015, 31st March, 2016, 31st March, 2017 and 31st March, 2018 are at Annexure II/Annexure III, respectively.
(c) Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has, on February 04, 2009 at the request of the Government, advised its member banks that at least 0.50% concession in interest rates may be provided to girl students on education loans for studies in India or abroad. Some of the banks give concession in interest rate to girl students. This is in accordance with the priority of the Government to promote female education.
(d) All education loans which are not repaid in time as per terms & conditions and falls under the purview of RBI Master Circular DBR No.BP.BC.2/21.04.048/ 2015-16 dated 01.07.2015 are classified as Non-Performing Assets (NPAs). Bank-wise position of NPAs of Public Sector Banks as on 31.03.2018 is at Annexure-III and State-wise position of NPA of PSBs Including Maharashtra as on 30.09.2017 is placed at Annexure-IV.
(e) No such proposal to waive off the interest on education loan is under consideration.
*******