‘₹195 cr. spent for those whose loans do not exceed ₹9 lakh’

The State Government has helped 19,901 persons to repay their education loans under the Education Loan Repayment Support (ELRS) scheme, ever since the scheme was launched in 2017.

A total amount of ₹195.57 crore has been spent for the purpose, as per figures presented by the Finance Minister T.M.Thomas Isaac in the assembly.

Kerala is the first State to launch such a scheme intended to help those who are struggling to repay the education loan debts after the completion of their course. An amount of ₹900 crore has been set aside for the scheme.

The scheme is applicable to students who have availed education loans not exceeding ₹9 lakh, and to students whose family income does not exceed ₹6 lakh per annum.

The income ceiling for differently abled students with a 40 per cent disability is ₹9 lakh.

The scheme currently applies to to loans whose repayment began before April 1, 2016.

The government bears 90 percent of the amount repayable during the first year, 75 percent in the second year, 50 percent of the repayable amount in the third year and 25 percent in the fourth year.

A total of 78,062 online applications for loan repayment support were received in the ELRS web portal elrs.kerala.gov.in. Out of this, 5,512 applications were rejected as ineligible.

In addition, 30,041 applications were temporarily rejected due to various discrepancies.

Out of the remaining, 42,509 applications, funds were cleared for 19,901 applications based on the recommendations of the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC).