The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the PM Vidyalaxmi scheme to provide monetary support to meritorious students for pursuing higher education. An allocation of Rs 3,600 crore has been approved for the same by the government to cover more than 22 lakh students every year.
Who will benefit from the scheme?
The scheme has been designed for meritorious students from low-income groups. As per the plan, students who get admission to Quality Higher Education Institutions (QHEIs) will be eligible to get collateral-free, guarantor-free loans from banks and financial institutions to cover the full amount of tuition fees and other expenses related to the course.
The scheme will be applicable to the top QHEIs as determined by the NIRF rankings, including all HEIs, government and private, that are ranked within the top 100 in NIRF in overall, category-specific and domain-specific rankings, state government HEIs ranked in 101-200 in the NIRF and all central government-run institutions.
The list of institutions will be updated every year using the latest NIRF ranking. Initially, 860 qualifying QHEIs will be covered under the scheme.
What does the scheme include?
The scheme will be applicable to the HEIs, government and private institutions that are ranked within the top 100 in NIRF in overall, category-specific and domain-specific rankings.
The scheme will also cover state government HEIs ranked 101-200 in NIRF and all central government-governed institutions.
The scheme is expected to benefit over 22 lakh students who will be able to potentially avail benefits of PM-Vidyalaxmi.
For loan amounts up to Rs 7.5 lakhs, the student will also be eligible for a credit guarantee of 75 per cent of outstanding default.
Students having an annual family income of up to Rs 8 lakhs, and not eligible for benefits under any other government scholarship, can avail of a 3 per cent interest subvention for loans up to Rs 10 lakhs.
The interest subvention support will be given to one lakh students every year. Preference will be given to students who are from government institutions and have opted for technical/ professional courses.
How to apply?
Interested and eligible students can apply for the education loan as well as interest subvention, through a unified portal 'PM-Vidyalaxmi' at the Department of Higher Education.
