Banks sanctioned Rs 181.82 crore, disbursed Rs 127 crore
PANAJI
Some 863 Goan students have availed themselves of loans aggregating Rs 127 crore to pursue higher studies abroad in the 2019-24 five-year period from public sector (nationalised) banks, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhury has disclosed in the Rajya Sabha.
In his written reply, Chaudhury said the Indian Banks’ Association collates the data of loans disbursed to students for overseas studies but involves only accounts in public sector banks.
Thus, on average, around 150 Goan students each year avail themselves of these specially curated foreign currency loans to facilitate studies abroad.
According to detailed information shared by Chaudhury in his reply, PSBs had “sanctioned” loans totalling Rs 181.82 crore in these five years. However, although many more had applied and were actually sanctioned the funds they had sought, only 863 actually availed themselves of them.
In all, only Rs 127 crore, and not the overall sanctioned Rs 181 crore, was actually disbursed.
Apart from these special student loans from nationalised banks, students in Goa who seek to study abroad are also given loans by the state-owned Economic Development Corporation (EDC) through the Goa Education Development Corporation. The Corporation also finances students for pursuing higher studies elsewhere in the country.
Meanwhile, Kerala had the most students availing themselves of these special student loans for overseas studies from nationalised banks, while the northeastern state of Arunachal had the least, with just an aggregate of Rs 1.77 crore disbursed in these five years.
