Loan worth over Rs 600 cr disbursed, likely to cross Rs 1K-mark by April end

Kolkata: The Student Credit Card scheme introduced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has come as a boon for several students who found it difficult to continue with their higher education due to financial constraints. The loan amount disbursed through this scheme has already crossed Rs 600 crore with around 21,500 students availing of the facilities.

The state government is hopeful that it will touch Rs 1000 crore by the end of April.

Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi on Tuesday held a meeting with the banks involved in granting loans through the Student Credit Card scheme and urged them to speed up the process of disbursement. Around 15,000 applications are pending in the banks and according to sources, they have been asked to sanction these loans by the end of April. This will result in the disbursement of another Rs 400 crore.

Another 55,000 applications have been sent to banks which the state government expects will be cleared by May.

Mobilisation camps will be held across the districts on April 7 for facilitating students to apply for a loan under the Student Credit Card by submitting relevant documents.

The card has a limit of Rs 10 lakh and students studying in class 10 onwards and aged upto 40 years are eligible for this card.

A student taking Rs 10 lakh loan on the card will have 15 years to repay it at a very low-interest rate and most importantly, the government is the guarantor and hence, banks should have no hesitation in sanctioning loans.

The number of applications for availing of the loan under the Student Credit Card scheme has been about 1.80 lakh.

According to sources, Amit Mitra, the Chief Economic Advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to bankers questioning a section's reluctance in prompt sanction of loans under the scheme when the state government is itself the guarantor.