Vidya Lakshmi Website : Search & Apply for Education Loans / Govt Scholarships

Vidya Lakshmi (www.vidyalakshmi.co.in), a web-based portal has been launched by the Union Government on the occasion of Independence Day i.e. 15^th August, 2015 for the benefit of  students seeking Educational Loans.

Vidya Lakshmi Portal is a first of its kind website providing single window for Students to access information and also make application for Educational Loans provided by Banks. It also provides a link to National Scholarship Portal  wherein students can apply for various Government Scholarships.

The Portal has been developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited (NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

Features of Vidya Lakshmi Portal

The Portal has the following features:

• Information about Educational Loan Schemes offered by the registered Banks.
• Common Educational Loan Application Form (CELAF) for Students.
• Facility to apply to multiple Banks for Educational Loans.
• Facility for Banks to download Students’ Loan Applications.
• Facility for Banks to upload loan processing status.
• Facility for Students to email grievances/queries relating to Educational Loans to Banks.
• Dashboard facility for Students to view status of their loan application and
• Linkage to National Scholarship Portal for information and application for Government Scholarships.

FAQs on Vidya Lakshmi website

• How to register on Vidya Lakshmi Portal? 
  • Visit vidyalakshmi.co.in
  • Click on Register and create your Login Id / Account.
• How to apply for Educational loan through Vidya Lakshmi?
  • Login with you User Id & password
  • Fill-up the Common Education Loan Application Form (CELAF) by providing all the necessary details. This is a one-time procedure.
  • After completing and submitting the Loan Application Form, you can ‘Search’ for ‘Educational Loan Schemes’ offered by Banks that are registered on Vidyalakshmi portal.
• What is Common Educational Loan Application Form (CELAF)?
  • The Common Educational Loan Application Form is the single form which students can fill to apply for Educational Loan to multiple banks / schemes. CELAF is the application form prescribed by Indian Banks Association (IBA) and accepted by all banks.
• How to check or track the status of my Educational Loan?
  • Login to website.
  • Click on ‘Application Status‘ to check your loan status.
  • The respective Bank will update the status of the application on Vidya Lakshmi portal.
• What should I do if my Loan is rejected?
  • You may not be eligible as per the norms laid down by the selected banks. You can contact the selected banks for more details.
• What is ‘On Hold’ Loan Status?
  • The Bank can mark your loan application status as ‘On hold‘ when the bank requires some further information or documents to be submitted by the you (student/applicant). (The requirement will be indicated in the ‘Remarks column’ and you can check the same in the dashboard)
• Which are the banks that I can apply for Educational loan through Vidya Lakshmi portal?
  • As of now 13 banks are registered, namely – State Bank of India (SBI), IDBI Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank, Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, Kotak Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Punjab National Bank. These banks are offering around 22 Educational Loan Schemes. This initiative of the Govt aims to bring on board all Banks which are providing various Educational Loans Schemes.
•  How many applications for an Educational Loan can be submitted by a student?
  • A student can apply to a maximum of three Banks through Vidya Lakshmi portal using CELAF.
• How is the money/educational loan disbursed?
  • Approved Educational Loan of an applicant will be disbursed directly by the bank outside the Vidya Lakshmi Portal. You may have to contact the respective bank for more details. 
• What is rate of interest for the Educational loan?
  • The interest rate varies from bank to bank and scheme to scheme. You can check the loan details on ‘Loan Search’ page itself.

What is National Scholarships Portal all about?

Government has also launched a website – www.scholarships.gov.in, which is a one-stop solution through which various services starting from student application, application receipt, processing, sanction and disbursal of various scholarships provided by the GOI (Governemnt of India) to Students are enabled.

Benefits of National Scholarships portal are as below;

• One-time registration.
• Common Application form for all scholarships.
• Based on eligibility criteria, system itself suggests the schemes for which a student is eligible.
• Elimination of duplicate scholarship applications.
• Release of scholarship amount directly to bank accounts of students through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer).

(Image courtesy of ddpavumba at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

(References : pib.nic.in, vidyalakshmi.co.in & scholarships.gov.in)