PM Vidyalaxmi will enable youth to pursue their dreams: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

New Delhi: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that Cabinet’s approval of PM Vidyalaxmi with an outlay of 3,600 crore rupees will remove obstacles to higher education and enable the country’s youth to pursue their dreams. In a social media post, Mr Pradhan highlighted that collateral-free and guarantor-free education loans under PM Vidyalaxmi will maximise access to higher education for meritorious students. He said that this scheme will ensure that financial constraints do not prevent students from pursuing education. Mr Pradhan also said that universalising access to 21st-century higher education for India’s talented youth is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee.
Mr Pradhan underlined that students having annual family income of up to 8 lakh rupees shall be eligible to get 3 per cent interest subvention on education loans up to 10 lakh rupees. He added that loans up to 7.5 lakhs rupees shall be eligible for a 75 percent credit guarantee. The Minister emphasised that education loans will be facilitated through a transparent, student-friendly and digital application process that will be common to all banks.

He said that education loans under PM Vidyalaxmi will be facilitated to students securing admissions in the top 860 Higher Education Institutions of the country based on the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). Mr Pradhan said this will cover more than 22 lakh students every year. He further said that PM Vidyalaxmi is one more concrete step towards the implementation of the National Education Policy and it will empower millions of students from the poor and middle class.