Parliament Question: Decline in Active Student Educational Loans

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 439 ANSWERED ON- 23.03.2026 DECLINE IN ACTIVE STUDENT EDUCATIONAL LOANS *439. Shri Azad Kirti Jha: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) the number of active student loans and overall outstanding value of such loans during the last ten years; (b) whether it is a fact that there has been a decline in active student loans during the period from 2014 to 2025 with the overall outstanding loan values increasing simultaneously, if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor; (c) the details of key barriers in accessing educational loans, including high interest rates, collateral requirements, discriminatory banking practices among others, prohibiting poor students from accessing loans along with the measures taken by the Government thereon; (d) the details of funds sanctioned and disbursed under PM Vidyalaxmi scheme since inception, month-wise; and (e) whether it is also a fact that only 15 percent of the sanctioned budget between February and August 2025 had been disbursed and if so, the reasons thereof along with the measures being taken by the Government to expedite disbursal? ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN) (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. *****STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (E) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 439 ANSWERED ON 23.03.2026 ASKED BY SHRI AZAD KIRTI JHA, HON’BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT REGARDING ‘DECLINE IN ACTIVE STUDENT EDUCATIONAL LOANS’ (a) to (c): Education is in the concurrent list and both the Central Government and State Governments work together for its improvement. The Government of India is implementing different education loan schemes for providing financial assistance for higher education to all students who desire to avail education loans to pursue higher education. There is no upper limit on number of education loans that can be sanctioned under these schemes. The Central Government launched the PM Vidyalaxmi, a new Central Sector scheme in November 2024 that seeks to provide financial support to meritorious students including students from below poverty line category getting merit based admission in Quality Higher Education Institution (QHEIs). Under the PM Vidyalaxmi scheme, students getting merit-based admission in Quality Higher Education Institution (QHEIs) are eligible to get collateral-free, guarantor-free education loans from banks to cover full amount of tuition fees and other expenses related to the course. There is no upper limit on the number of such loans that can be sanctioned. Further, the repayment can be done up to 15 years after the moratorium period. Further, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) has informed that all Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) have been advised by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to adopt Model Education Loan Scheme (MELS), formulated by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), 2022 (last amended on 23.6.2025). This scheme is available for all sections of the society. The main features of the scheme are as under: • The scheme provides need-based education loan. • No collateral security or third-party guarantee is required for loans amount up to ₹ 7.50 lakhs, provided they are eligible for Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme (CSIS)/ Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Education loan (CGFSEL). • No Margin for loans up to ₹ 4 lakhs. • Moratorium period is allowed up to study period plus one year in all cases. • Repayment period (after moratorium) is available up to 15 years for all loans. Further, the RBI vide its Circular on Collateral Free Loans - Educational Loan Scheme, has advised that banks must not, mandatorily, obtain collateral security in the case of educational loans up to ₹ 4 lakhs. To facilitate the students from poorer households, the Department of Higher Education is implementing the PM-USP Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme (PM-USP CSIS). Under the PM USP-CSIS Scheme, full interest subvention is provided to all students, including students belonging to BPL who are pursuing technical/professional courses from approved National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accredited HEIs/National Board of Accreditation (NBA) accredited courses, whose annual family income is up to ₹ 4.5 lakhs and for education loans up to ₹ 10 lakhs, during the moratorium period. There is no upper limit on number of student beneficiaries for this Scheme. Further under the CGFSEL Scheme, credit guarantee is provided by government for loans up to ₹ 7.5 lakhs for students from all income groups. There is no upper limit on number of student beneficiaries for this Scheme. In PM-Vidyalaxmi scheme too, a 3% interest subvention support during moratorium period (course period plus one year) is given every year up to one lakh fresh students having anannual family income of up to ₹ 8 lakhs and not eligible for benefits under any other government scholarship or interest subvention schemes on education loans. An outlay of ₹ 3,600 Crore has been made during 2024-25 to 2030-31, and 7 lakh fresh students are expected to get the benefit of this interest subvention during the period. The DFS has also informed that the details of number of loan accounts and amount outstanding of education loans by the Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), Regional Rural Banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies, as reported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), are as follows: Year No. of Accounts Amount Outstanding (₹ crores) 2014 24,30,711 54,110 2015 26,82,972 63,202 2016 27,17,418 68,493 2017 26,00,713 72,468 2018 25,65,524 77,013 2019 23,84,641 78,544 2020 23,99,332 92,133 2021 21,35,263 90,002 2022 21,94,042 99,728 2023 23,66,737 1,26,388 2024 24,13,747 1,65,126 2025 24,37,801 2,02,792 It may be seen that, post end of COVID pandemic, there has been an increase in number of education loan accounts on Year-on-Year basis from year 2021 to 2025. Since 25th February, 2025, a new student-friendly portal https://pmvidyalaxmi.co.in has been launched, where a simple 2-page completely digital application format to apply for education loans has been provided to the students. The students can send applications to up to three banks of their choice. As per guidelines of PM-Vidyalaxmi scheme, interest rate charged by the banks shall be capped at individual bank’s Externally Benchmarked Lending Rate (EBLR) + 0.5%. In all cases, the banks are also free to charge interest which is lower than this as per their policy. The Department of Higher Education and the Department of Financial Services, on a regular basis, review the progress of PM-Vidyalaxmi along with IBA and participating banks. Thus, the measures taken by Government is making the process of availing of education loans by all students, including poor students simpler.(d) & (e): The Details of Loan sanctioned and disbursed month-wise under the PM-Vidyalaxmi Scheme is as follows: PMVL loans Month wise data (6th November 2024 to 16th March 2026) Loan Sanctioned Loan Disbursed Sr. Month No. of Amount No. of Amount No Accounts (₹ crores) Accounts (₹ crores) 1 Nov 24 – Feb 25 11268 1099.57 11267 537.41 2 Mar-25 3243 492.32 3098 223.22 3 Apr-25 3224 481.15 3041 177.91 4 May-25 6524 1213.69 6056 284.7 5 Jun-25 9532 1626.26 8863 343.42 6 Jul-25 10975 1329.42 10248 269.64 7 Aug-25 8979 1055.7 8401 214.37 8 Sep-25 6887 785.96 6410 157.12 9 Oct-25 5622 622.48 5095 128.24 10 Nov-25 4391 481.46 3919 104.59 11 Dec-25 4808 517.99 3940 100.02 12 Jan-26 3179 333.65 2206 60.26 13 Feb-26 1725 241.23 946 39.54 Mar-26 (up to 16th 14 March 2026) 489 88.42 171 10.52 Total 69,865 9300.95 62,680 2131.38 In 2025-26, under the Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan, an amount of ₹ 1454.46 crore has been sanctioned under the Final Grants (FG) and till 18th March, 2026 ₹ 1454.01 crores have been certified and booked, which shows that nearly entire budget has already been used for disbursal. ***