Need education loan for studies? Govt launches dedicated web portal for students
New Delhi, Aug 21: In an attempt to help students, seeking education loans, Modi-led BJP Government has launched a dedicated web portal for the purpose. The name of the website is www.vidyalakshmi.co.in, which is first of its kind in the country.
Reportedly, five banks including SBI, IDBI Bank and Bank of India have integrated their system with the portal.
"Vidya Lakshmi (www.vidyalakshmi.co.in) was launched on the occasion of Independence Day i.e. 15th August, 2015 for the benefit of students seeking educational loans," a Finance Ministry release said.
The portal has been developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited (NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Department of Financial Services in the Finance Ministry, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Indian Banks Association (IBA).
It
was
proposed
in
Budget
speech
Finance
Minister
Arun
Jaitley
in
his
Budget
speech
for
2015-16
had
proposed
to
set
up
a
fully
IT
based
student
financial
aid
authority
to
administer
and
monitor
scholarships
as
well
as
educational
loan
schemes
through
Pradhan
Mantri
Vidya
Lakshmi
Karyakram
(PMVLK).
It
is
aimed
to
ensure
that
no
student
misses
out
on
higher
education
for
lack
of
funds,
said
the
release,
adding
that
the
launch
of
the
portal
is
the
first
step
towards
achieving
this
objective.
"Vidya
Lakshmi
Portal
is
the
first
of
its
kind
portal
providing
single
window
for
students
to
access
information
and
make
applications
for
educational
loans
provided
by
banks
as
also
government
scholarships,"
it
added.
How website will help students
The portal will provide information about educational loan schemes of banks; common educational loan application form for students; facility to apply to multiple banks for educational loans; and facility for banks to download students' loan applications.
It also has facility for banks to upload loan processing status; facility for students to email grievances/queries relating to educational loans; dashboard facility for students to view status of their loan application and linkage to National Scholarship Portal for information and application for government scholarships.
Finance Ministry said so far 13 banks have registered 22 educational loan schemes on the Vidya Lakshmi Portal and five banks -- SBI, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank and Union Bank of India have integrated their system with the portal for providing loan processing status to students.
"This initiative aims to bring on board all banks providing educational loans. It is expected that students throughout the country will be benefited by this initiative of the government by making available a single window for access to various educational loan schemes of all banks," said the release further.
OneIndia News
(With inputs from PTI)