Dharmendra Pradhan, lauded the Union Cabinet's approval of the PM Vidyalaxmi scheme, a significant initiative to provide financial support to meritorious students under the Central Sector.
Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Shri Pradhan said that the scheme will help universalise access to 21st-century higher education for India’s talented youth. He also mentioned that with an outlay of ₹3,600 crore, the scheme will remove obstacles to higher education and enable the yuva shakti of the country to pursue their dreams. Collateral-free and guarantor-free education loans under PM Vidyalaxmi will maximise access to higher education for meritorious students and ensure that financial constraints do not prevent students from pursuing education, he highlighted.
Shri Pradhan mentioned that students having annual family income of up to ₹8 lakh shall be eligible to get 3% interest subvention on education loans up to ₹10 lakh and loans up to ₹7.5 lakhs shall be eligible for 75% credit guarantee. Education loans will be facilitated through a transparent, student-friendly and digital application process that will be common to all banks, he mentioned.
He said that education loans under PM Vidyalaxmi will be facilitated to students securing admissions in the top 860 HEIs of the country based on NIRF. This will cover more than 22 lakh students every year.