Hummingbird News Desk
KOLKATA, 30 JUNE: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today rolled out the ‘Students’ Credit Card’ in an effort to provide soft loans up to Rs 10 lakh to the students for educational purposes.
Launching the card on virtual mode from the state secretariat, Miss Banerjee said, “I am delighted to announce that GoWB has launched the students’ credit card today.”
She said to make the youth of Bengal self-reliant, the Scheme will provide a loan up to Rs 10 Lakh with an annual simple interest.
“The Scheme will benefit all students residing in West Bengal who are enrolled in Higher Educational Institutions and Competitive Examinations Coaching Centers,” she said.
The whole idea behind rolling out this credit card scheme is to provide hassle-free and collateral-free loans to students belonging to West Bengal, with a nominal simple interest of 4% for a maximum sum of ₹10 lakh. Banks will not insist on any security/collateral security in tangible/intangible form other than co-obligation of parents or legal guardians.
This will help the students of West Bengal to pursue studies within or outside the state and in some cases even in abroad, a state government official said.
A student will have 15 years to repay the loan. The applications of students will be sent to the banks via their institutions and the Department of Higher Education. The loan can be used for both institutional expenses and for non-institutional expenses such as hostel fees/rent, purchase of laptop or study tours/projects.
Earlier after the cabinet approval of the project, Miss Banerjee had said, “This was in our election manifesto and it is our major scheme like Kanyashree and Sabujshree to provide financial support to the students. We want them to fulfill their dreams. A student can get a soft loan of up to Rs 10 lakh to pursue higher studies with the help of a credit card. A student up to the age of 40 years can apply for a loan. Fifteen years will be given to a student to repay the loan after getting a job. The interest rate would be low so that the student can repay the loan easily.”
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched the scheme from the state secretariat on virtual mode on Wednesday and all the education departments and all the district administrative officials were present in the launching program in virtual mode.
Tags: #MamataBanerjee #Didir10Ongikar #StudentCreditCard #WestBengal
