Parliament Question: Subsidised Educational Loan

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1683 ANSWERED ON 30/07/2025 SUBSIDISED EDUCATIONAL LOAN

1683. SHRI ARUN BHARTI:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) the details of the students who have been benefited from the subsidised educational loan scheme during the last five years, State-wise and year-wise;

(b) the details of the total amount of subsidies provided under the educational loan scheme for minority students since 2020, State-wise and year-wise;

(c) the details of the States which have seen the highest number of beneficiaries under this scheme and the efforts being made to improve participation in under represented regions;

(d) the steps taken by the Government to ensure that minority students from economically weaker sections may access quality higher education through subsidised loans; and

(e) whether the Government is considering to increase the subsidy amount or extending the repayment period for students facing financial difficulties and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

(a) to (d): Ministry of Minority Affairs has implemented Padho Pardesh Scheme for providing subsidy on the interest payable during the period of moratorium on the educational loan, obtained by students belonging to the notified minority communities, for overseas studies. In recent years, the Government eased the norms and has made various educational loans available to students conveniently, through Public Sector Banks. It was observed that benefits of interest subsidy that get accrued to the beneficiaries under the Padho Pardesh scheme were limited and also that there was an apparent overlap with other similar schemes being implemented by other Ministries which were applicable to eligible minority community students as well. In view of such overlaps, limited benefits and ease of availing education loans on lower rates of interest, the Scheme had been discontinued from 2022-23 onwards.

The National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC), a Government of India undertaking under Ministry of Minority Affairs, also provides educational loan, at lower rate of interest, exclusively to students belonging to minority communities. The eligibility criteria under NMDFC

schemes are as follows:

The annual family income eligibility criterion under Credit Line-1 is upto Rs. 3.00 lacs p.a. for both rural & urban areas. Under Credit Line -2, persons with higher annual family income of upto Rs.8.00 lacs p.a. can avail higher quantum of financial assistance at a higher rate of interest.Under NMDFC Education Loan scheme, loan of up to Rs.20.00 lacs for courses in India & Rs.30.00 lacs for courses abroad is available at an interest rate of 3% p.a. under Credit Line-1 while interest @ of 8% p.a. is charged from male beneficiaries & 5% p.a. from female beneficiaries under Credit Line-2. The schemes of NMDFC (including education loan scheme) are implemented through State Channelizing Agencies (SCAs) nominated by respective State Govt./ UT Administration. The education loans are extended based on actual demand from the respective States/UTs.

The details of the students who have been benefited from these loan scheme during the last five years, state-wise and year-wise is at annexure.

(e): As far as education loans given by NMDFC is concerned, the loans are being extended at interest rates of 3-8% per annum, which is already concessional as compared to prevailing market rates, and NMDFC has not been reported any difficulty on account of repayment period so far.

*****ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (d) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1683 FOR 30.07.2025 REGARDING “SUBSIDISED EDUCATIONAL LOAN”.

State-wise Interest Subsidy and fund released under Padho Pardesh Scheme 2024-25 (upto 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24

30.09.2024) S.

No States Fund Fund Fund Fund Fund N.o. of N.o. of N.o. of N.o. of N.o. of . released released released released released benefici benefi benefi benefi benefic- (In Rs. (In Rs. (In Rs. (In Rs. (In Rs. a-rie c-iarie c-iarie c-iarie iarie Lakh) Lakh) Lakh) Lakh) Lakh) 1 Andhra 91 60.06 81 50.97 46 45.38 28 29.56 10 5.21 Pradesh 2 Assam 6 3.20 1 0.28 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 3 Bihar 11 3.78 8 2.40 6 3.42 4 2.83 0 0.00 4 Chandigarh 3 1.38 2 0.25 1 1.67 1 1.20 0 0.00 5 Chhattisgar 3 1.91 1 1.21 1 0.84 1 0.27 0 0.00 h 6 Delhi 19 8.23 13 5.64 8 5.73 4 3.45 2 1.40 7 Goa 13 9.76 4 3.41 3 1.38 1 0.54 0 0.00 8 Gujarat 103 67.37 82 45.08 55 52.71 37 32.87 11 4.95 9 Haryana 14 5.04 12 5.63 11 6.15 5 4.66 2 0.37 10 Himachal 1 1.05 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 Pradesh 11 Jammu & 132 60.27 202 65.07 149 75.06 97 43.78 29 5.79 Kashmir 12 Jharkhand 8 2.46 6 2.29 2 1.13 1 0.19 0 0.00 13 Karnataka 275 195.12 229 130.33 129 122.34 57 44.00 11 5.29 14 Kerala 2236 1360.2 3359 1710.8 2364 2243.1 1643 1325.2 380 162.28 9 4 2 7 15 Madhya 82 50.39 51 30.17 33 32.87 16 15.16 4 3.22 Pradesh 16 Maharashtr 300 225.79 265 194.36 148 140.90 74 60.51 11 5.08 a 17 Odisha 4 4.42 5 3.20 2 3.12 2 1.25 0 0.00 18 Puducherry 12 9.60 9 6.39 5 4.58 3 1.00 0 0.00 19 Punjab 59 22.21 74 21.11 46 26.00 29 18.68 10 4.09 20 Rajasthan 27 15.06 24 12.90 18 17.20 13 6.42 1 0.37 21 Tamil 133 79.81 108 58.70 58 46.68 38 32.27 6 3.14 Nadu 22 Telangana 63 40.11 53 27.97 32 22.10 13 12.64 5 3.07 23 Uttar 30 15.00 15 8.13 11 8.14 8 5.94 0 0.00 Pradesh 24 Uttrakhand 12 4.32 7 4.59 7 5.90 4 2.12 0 0.00 25 West 19 8.38 11 7.95 5 4.80 2 4.03 1 0.53 Bengal TOTAL 3656 2255 4622 2399 3140 2871 2081 1649 483 205Year -wise & State/UT wise details of concessional loan disbursed & no. of students assisted under NMDFC education loan during last 5 years (Amount Rs. in cr) 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 Sl. No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of NO. State/UT Amt. Students Amt. Students Amt. Students Amt. Students Amt. Students 1 Chandigarh 10.03 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Gujarat 1.34 68 0.74 37 0.23 13 0 0 0 0 Himachal 3 Pradesh 0.07 8 0.16 7 0.34 14 0.19 5 0.11 2 Jammu & 4 Kashmir 5.66 115 9.33 158 4.74 85 1.52 53 2.61 103 5 Kerala 9.29 637 8.07 467 12.93 686 4.32 246 4.00 243 6 Maharashtra 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.08 163 0 0 7 Rajasthan 0 0 0 0 0.33 20 0.67 35 0 0 8 Tamil Nadu 0.09 7 0.09 7 0.15 14 0.03 5 0.1 10 9 Tripura 0.35 37 0.46 46 0.38 38 0 0 0 0 10 Uttarakhand 0.11 3 0.01 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 West 11 Bengal 79.11 1831 0 0 16.53 1194 3.66 166 15.99 646 Total 106.05 2707 18.86 723 35.63 2064 12.47 673 22.81 1004