NEW DELHI: The government has made it mandatory for banks to sanction education loans only though online process and asked them not to consider any application submitted in the physical form, so that the education loan disbursement process becomes transparent and more efficient.
“The Department of Financial Services has made it mandatory for all the banks to accept the education loan applications only through the NSDL portal. The banks cannot accept applications form in the physical form,” said Gagan Rai, managing director and CEO, NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure, which is managing the portal called Vidya Lakshmi.
Vidya Lakshmi is the IT-based Student Financial Aid Authority to administer and monitor scholarships as well as education loan schemes.
According to Rai, shifting the entire process online will also check corruption.
So far, 13,190 education loan applications have been approved by 36 banks on the Vidya Lakshmi Portal.
“Already, lakhs of students are coming to our portal to register for education loans,” Rai said, adding that it will also help in scanning fraudulent applications.
The move is significant as it comes in the backdrop of a steep increase in slippages in education loans, putting further pressure on the already stressed banking sector.
According to Rai, technology can go a long way in improving the education and health care infrastructure of the country.
