What is the Pradhan Mantri Vidyalakshmi Yojana? How will it be beneficial? Approval received from PM Cabinet
The Pradhan Mantri Vidyalakshmi Yojana has been approved in the cabinet meeting chaired by PM Modi on Wednesday. Let us tell you that this is a new central scheme which aims to provide financial assistance to the meritorious students of the country so that no student is deprived of higher education due to financial constraints. PM Vidyalakshmi is another important initiative emanating from the National Education Policy, 2020, which recommended that financial assistance should be provided to meritorious students in both public and private higher education institutions.
Under the PM Vidyalakshmi Yojana, any student admitted to a quality higher education institution will be eligible to receive a loan without any collateral or guarantor from banks and financial institutions to cover the entire amount of tuition fees and other expenses related to the course. The Pradhan Mantri Vidyalakshmi Yojana will be operated through an easy transparent and student-friendly system which will be interoperable and completely digital.
What discounts will be available?
Under the scheme, the student will also be eligible for a credit guarantee of 75% of the outstanding default amount for a loan amount of up to Rs 7.5 lakh. This will help banks to provide education loans to students under the scheme. Apart from this, students whose annual family income is Rs 8 lakh or less and who are not eligible for the benefit of any other government scholarship or interest waiver scheme will also be provided 3 percent interest discount on loans up to Rs 10 lakh during the moratorium period.
Interest discount to 1 lakh people every year
Interest waiver assistance will be given to one lakh students every year. Priority will be given to those students who are from government institutions and who have opted for technical professional courses. The government will spend Rs 3600 crore on this scheme during the financial year 2024-25 to 2030-31 and 7 lakh new students are expected to get the benefit of this interest discount during this period.
