As many as 9.56 lakh students have taken education loans in Tamil Nadu, while Kerala had 4.03 student loan accounts as on December 2014.
Just two states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, have accounted for nearly 40 per cent of education loans disbursed in the country so far, indicating the skew in the tapping of bank funds for education.
Banks have disbursed Rs 16, 380 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs 10, 487 crore in Kerala — over 38 per cent of total disbursals, as per data prepared by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance.
According to the data, collated from states across the country, over 54 per cent of education loans have gone to applicants in south India. As of December 31, 2014, the total outstanding education loans for the country was Rs 70, 475 crore.
Banks began to disburse education loans from 2000-01. These loans were pushed the most by former finance minister P Chidambaram when the UPA was in power. Populous states like UP and Bihar are way down in the borrowings list: banks could disburse only Rs 6, 697 crore and Rs 3, 053 crore respectively. Students in Maharashtra — another big state — have received only Rs 4, 906 crore so far; Madhya Pradesh has got Rs 1, 945 crore. The entire Northeast has got only Rs 736 crore.
The skew in disbursals was discussed at a review meeting called by the Finance Ministry for public sector banks recently.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat accounts for Rs 1, 508 crore of education loans, with barely 50, 000 students opting for loans. “The Ministry of HRD has given a list of 1, 100 A-rated institutions and universities to banks and they do not have any problem in lending to students in these institutions. They should not consider the mortgage but focus on employability, ” said a top official who participated in the Ministry review meeting, which called for a correction in the trend.
