West Bengal Student Credit Card Scheme: How to apply for the Rs 10 lakh education loan.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday launched a credit card scheme for students with a limit of Rs 10 lakh. The chief minister informed about the scheme through a Tweet saying that students will be provided West Bengal Student Credit Card a loan of up to Rs 10 lakh with an annual simple interest. The credit card for students will make the “youth of Bengal self-reliant”, she said.

As per the gazette notification, a maximum loan amount of Rs 10 lakh can be availed at a rate of 4 per cent simple interest, following the fulfilment of the terms and conditions.

• The Student Credit Card Scheme “aims at providing financial support/assistance by the State Government at a nominal interest rate (with suitable guarantees to the bank) to the students residing in West Bengal for at least 10 years and pursuing education from class 10 onwards, or studying in various coaching institutes for appearing in different competitive examinations like Engineering/ Medical/ Law, IAS, IPS, WBCS, SSC, UPSC, PSC, SSC etc.”
• The scheme can also be availed by students pursuing UG, PG courses including professional degree, Diploma courses and research at doctoral/ post-doctoral level or other similar courses. The scheme covers schools, madrasas, colleges, universities and other institutes like IIMs, IITs, AIIMSs, NITs, XLRI, BITS, SPA, IIESTs ISIs, NLUs, NID, IISc, IIFTs, ICFAI and others.
• The student applying for loan should be an Indian national and a resident of the state of West Bengal for the last 10 years.
• Students availing the loan are required to upload their progress report card/ statement on completion of each semester/ year examinations.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Students should be less than 40 years of age at the time of applying for the loan.
• The loan can be obtained from State Cooperative Banks and its affiliated Central Cooperative Banks and District Central Cooperative Banks, public sector and private sector banks operating in West Bengal.
• Students will have to apply online through a web-based portal which will be maintained by the Higher Education Department. The application will be through the respective educational institution in which the student has got admission. Concerned educational institutions, Education Department and the concerned bank will be able to access details about each student through a separate dashboard on the portal.
• The student will have to link “preferably their AADHAR Card or the Class X registration number with the concerned portal while applying to the Higher Education Department through their respective Institution.”
• Students need to make a self-declaration which will be attached to the application form.

Terms of repayment:

• For loans under the Credit Card scheme, the repayment period has been set at 15 years, including the Moratorium/ repayment holiday.
• The loan amount can be paid back by a student or their parent/ legal guardian at any time before the stipulated period. Early repayment also carries the benefit of no processing cost to be charged by the bank.

If a student fully services the interest during the study period, a 1 percent interest concession will be provided.